Marathon Petroleum Co. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.91 (NYSE:MPC)

Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 30th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of 0.91 per share by the oil and gas company on Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st.

Marathon Petroleum has increased its dividend payment by an average of 13.4% annually over the last three years. Marathon Petroleum has a payout ratio of 31.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Marathon Petroleum to earn $11.56 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.5%.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 0.2 %

MPC opened at $137.74 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $137.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $145.65. Marathon Petroleum has a fifty-two week low of $115.10 and a fifty-two week high of $184.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.87, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $160.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Scotiabank cut their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $169.00 to $147.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Barclays dropped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $161.00 to $141.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Raymond James decreased their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $193.00 to $183.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Tudor Pickering raised shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.21.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Evan Bayh acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $133.70 per share, for a total transaction of $133,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 69,305 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,266,078.50. This represents a 1.46 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ricky D. Hessling acquired 2,000 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $134.72 per share, with a total value of $269,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,638,464.64. This trade represents a 19.68 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 30.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,988 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,178 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $696,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. 76.77% of the stock is currently 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.