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

Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, January 27th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of 0.91 per share by the oil and gas company on Monday, March 10th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th.

Marathon Petroleum has raised its dividend by an average of 13.4% per year over the last three years. Marathon Petroleum has a dividend payout ratio of 29.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Marathon Petroleum to earn $8.55 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 42.6%.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 0.7 %

MPC opened at $152.69 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.42. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $147.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $158.52. Marathon Petroleum has a 1-year low of $130.54 and a 1-year high of $221.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.90. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.19% and a net margin of 3.15%. The firm had revenue of $35.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $8.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, November 5th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the oil and gas company to purchase up to 10% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Marathon Petroleum

In other news, Director Jeffrey C. Campbell acquired 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $149.61 per share, for a total transaction of $897,660.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 6,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $911,124.90. This represents a 6,666.67 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MPC has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $171.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup cut their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $186.00 to $182.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $181.20.

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.