Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) announced its earnings results on Tuesday. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.25, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $32.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.07 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 25.44% and a net margin of 5.32%. The business’s revenue was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $6.09 EPS.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MPC opened at $178.97 on Thursday. Marathon Petroleum has a 12-month low of $104.32 and a 12-month high of $221.11. The company has a market cap of $64.49 billion, a PE ratio of 8.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.55. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $193.61 and a 200 day moving average of $167.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.48%.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the oil and gas company to buy up to 7.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MPC shares. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $193.77.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marathon Petroleum

In other news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.35, for a total value of $170,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,994,026.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Company Profile

Marathon Petroleum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated downstream energy company primarily in the United States. The company operates through Refining & Marketing, and Midstream segments. The Refining & Marketing segment refines crude oil and other feedstocks at its refineries in the Gulf Coast, Mid-Continent, and West Coast regions of the United States; and purchases refined products and ethanol for resale and distributes refined products, including renewable diesel, through transportation, storage, distribution, and marketing services.