Share Repurchase Plan Declared by Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Board

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC - Get Free Report) declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 30th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the oil and gas company to buy up to 7.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MPC shares. Citigroup started coverage on Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 9th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $193.77.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

MPC stock traded down $2.75 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $178.97. 3,856,183 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,796,828. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap of $64.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.61, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $193.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.76. Marathon Petroleum has a 1-year low of $104.32 and a 1-year high of $221.11.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $32.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.07 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 6.44% and a return on equity of 30.58%. Marathon Petroleum's revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.09 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum will post 20.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Marathon Petroleum's dividend payout ratio is 14.02%.

Insider Activity at Marathon Petroleum

In other Marathon Petroleum news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 1,000 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.35, for a total transaction of $170,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,446 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,994,026.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.

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