Barclays Boosts Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Price Target to $189.00

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC - Get Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by stock analysts at Barclays from $159.00 to $189.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "overweight" rating on the oil and gas company's stock. Barclays's price target indicates a potential upside of 7.61% from the stock's current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on MPC. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $169.00 to $147.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen raised their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $152.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $184.38.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

MPC stock traded down $4.22 during trading on Friday, reaching $175.64. 2,732,084 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,719,926. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $163.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $150.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The company has a market capitalization of $53.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.88. Marathon Petroleum has a twelve month low of $115.10 and a twelve month high of $183.31.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.24) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $31.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $28.91 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 8.89% and a net margin of 1.75%. Marathon Petroleum's quarterly revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Marathon Petroleum

In other news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 7,392 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,293,600.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,944 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,315,200. This represents a 28.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Petroleum

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MPC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,941,391 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $5,090,611,000 after buying an additional 3,834,501 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 18.7% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,824,177 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $1,722,664,000 after acquiring an additional 1,862,674 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 6.3% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 6,037,532 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $879,608,000 after acquiring an additional 355,215 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 58.5% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,448,514 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $791,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,011,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,982,348 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $725,878,000 after purchasing an additional 178,397 shares during the period. 76.77% of the stock is owned by 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.