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

Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 30th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of 0.91 per share by the oil and gas company on Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This is a boost from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83.

Marathon Petroleum has increased its dividend by an average of 9.9% annually over the last three years. Marathon Petroleum has a dividend payout ratio of 36.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Marathon Petroleum to earn $10.29 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 35.4%.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE MPC opened at $159.98 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.23. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $159.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $168.10. Marathon Petroleum has a fifty-two week low of $140.98 and a fifty-two week high of $221.11. The company has a market cap of $51.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.68, a PEG ratio of 2.74 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 the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $8.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, November 5th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the oil and gas company to buy up to 10% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MPC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. 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. Barclays dropped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Tudor Pickering cut Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $196.00 to $183.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $185.07.

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.