Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Price Target Raised to $280.00

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) had its target price raised by UBS Group from $221.00 to $280.00 in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the oil and gas company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on MPC. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $205.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $182.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $198.00 to $299.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Scotiabank raised shares of Marathon Petroleum to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $219.19.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE MPC opened at $241.81 on Thursday. Marathon Petroleum has a 1-year low of $115.10 and a 1-year high of $255.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The business’s 50 day moving average is $212.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $194.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.11, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.58.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas company reported $4.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.34. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 13.90% and a net margin of 2.99%.The firm had revenue of $32.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.89 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.77 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.47 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.96%.

Insider Transactions at Marathon Petroleum

In other Marathon Petroleum news, insider Ricky D. Hessling sold 1,626 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.18, for a total value of $371,020.68. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,525 shares in the company, valued at $1,717,054.50. This represents a 17.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 4,473 shares of company stock valued at $1,015,428. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth $472,312,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 49,392.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,498,124 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $245,157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,495,097 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 3,816.8% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,306,749 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $212,517,000 after acquiring an additional 1,273,386 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 27,979.8% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 659,595 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $109,565,000 after acquiring an additional 657,246 shares during the period. Finally, Man Group plc grew its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 2,175.0% during the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 568,790 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $92,502,000 after acquiring an additional 543,788 shares in the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Marathon Petroleum Company Profile

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: MPC) is a U.S.-based downstream energy company engaged principally in the refining, marketing, supply and transportation of petroleum products. The company was formed through a spin-off from Marathon Oil in 2011 and operates an integrated system of refining and logistics assets that support the production and distribution of transportation fuels and other refined petroleum products.

Marathon Petroleum’s operations include refining crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, asphalt and other specialty products, as well as managing the distribution and storage infrastructure needed to move those products to market.