Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Raised to “Hold” at Tudor Pickering

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) was upgraded by stock analysts at Tudor Pickering from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on MPC. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $182.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $171.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Barclays dropped their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $174.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.27.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Marathon Petroleum stock opened at $157.22 on Tuesday. Marathon Petroleum has a 12-month low of $130.54 and a 12-month high of $221.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.46, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $146.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $157.78.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.71. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 16.19%. The business had revenue of $33.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.94 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.98 EPS. Marathon Petroleum’s revenue was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, November 5th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the oil and gas company to reacquire up to 10% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Marathon Petroleum

In other Marathon Petroleum news, Director Jeffrey C. Campbell acquired 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $149.61 per share, for a total transaction of $897,660.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 6,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $911,124.90. This represents a 6,666.67 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gladius Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Marathon Petroleum in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC now owns 170 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 672.7% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 170 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.