Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Wells Fargo & Company Analyst Says

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) had its price objective hoisted by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from $183.00 to $185.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the oil and gas company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price points to a potential upside of 23.65% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $159.00 to $161.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.21.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

MPC stock opened at $149.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $149.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $152.17. The company has a market capitalization of $46.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.07, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.39. Marathon Petroleum has a 1-year low of $130.54 and a 1-year high of $221.11.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.71. The firm had revenue of $33.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.94 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 2.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Marathon Petroleum

In related news, Director Evan Bayh bought 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $133.70 per share, with a total value of $133,700.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 69,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,266,078.50. The trade was a 1.46 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ricky D. Hessling bought 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $134.72 per share, with a total value of $269,440.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 12,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,638,464.64. The trade was a 19.68 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Petroleum

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 3rd quarter worth $57,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 3rd quarter worth $1,327,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 18,630 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,035,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 17.7% during the 3rd quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 2,329 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the period. 76.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Marathon Petroleum

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.