Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Board Approves Stock Buyback Program

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, November 5th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the oil and gas company to buy up to 10% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of Marathon Petroleum stock opened at $155.20 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $161.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $170.32. Marathon Petroleum has a 1-year low of $140.98 and a 1-year high of $221.11. The company has a market cap of $51.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.16, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.38.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.90. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 24.05% and a net margin of 4.79%. The firm had revenue of $35.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.34 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $8.14 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.71 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This is an increase from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.35%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $191.00 to $170.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Tudor Pickering downgraded Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $222.00 to $231.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. downgraded Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $185.67.

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.