Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Stock

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) had its target price lifted by research analysts at Barclays from $159.00 to $161.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the oil and gas company’s stock. Barclays‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 14.00% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on MPC. Mizuho dropped their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $160.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $182.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Tudor Pickering raised Marathon Petroleum from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.13.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

MPC stock opened at $141.23 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $44.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.39. Marathon Petroleum has a 12-month low of $130.54 and a 12-month high of $221.11. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $148.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.05.

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

Insider Activity

In other Marathon Petroleum news, insider Ricky D. Hessling acquired 2,000 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $134.72 per share, with a total value of $269,440.00. Following the purchase, the insider now 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Evan Bayh acquired 1,000 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the purchase, the director now owns 69,305 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,266,078.50. This represents a 1.46 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marathon Petroleum

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 44.8% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 294 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 6,315 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,029,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,174 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $7,033,000 after purchasing an additional 9,355 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 30,256 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,929,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 1,822 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.