Marathon Petroleum Co. (MPC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.91 on December 10th

Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 30th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given 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 2.31%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83.

Marathon Petroleum has raised its dividend payment by an average of 9.9% per year over the last three years. Marathon Petroleum has a dividend payout ratio of 36.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of MPC opened at $157.52 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $159.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $168.26. Marathon Petroleum has a 52 week low of $140.98 and a 52 week high of $221.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.23.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.90. The business had revenue of $35.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.34 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 16.19%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $8.14 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MPC shares. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $191.00 to $170.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $171.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. downgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $174.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $185.07.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback 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 repurchase up to 10% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.