Comparing Marathon Petroleum (MPC) & Its Rivals

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) is one of 1,050 public companies in the “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare Marathon Petroleum to related companies based on the strength of its profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and earnings.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Marathon Petroleum and its rivals revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Marathon Petroleum	$153.58 billion	$4.05 billion	15.29
Marathon Petroleum Competitors	$272.77 billion	$5.52 billion	0.84

Marathon Petroleum’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than Marathon Petroleum. Marathon Petroleum is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Volatility & Risk

Marathon Petroleum has a beta of 0.54, indicating that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Marathon Petroleum’s rivals have a beta of -3.92, indicating that their average share price is 492% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

76.8% of Marathon Petroleum shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.7% of shares of all “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Marathon Petroleum shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 15.3% of shares of all “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Marathon Petroleum and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Marathon Petroleum	5.48%	31.96%	8.88%
Marathon Petroleum Competitors	-472.95%	19.42%	6.31%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Marathon Petroleum and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Marathon Petroleum	0	5	11	1	2.76
Marathon Petroleum Competitors	5960	26925	40745	2403	2.52

Marathon Petroleum currently has a consensus target price of $424.31, indicating a potential downside of 4.63%. As a group, “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies have a potential upside of 17.24%. Given Marathon Petroleum’s rivals higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Marathon Petroleum has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Dividends

Marathon Petroleum pays an annual dividend of $4.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Marathon Petroleum pays out 15.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies pay a dividend yield of 8.4% and pay out -121.2% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Marathon Petroleum has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Marathon Petroleum lags its rivals as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Summary

Marathon Petroleum beats its rivals on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

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. Its refined products include transportation fuels, such as reformulated gasolines and blend-grade gasolines; heavy fuel oil; and asphalt. This segment also manufactures propane and petrochemicals. It sells refined products to wholesale marketing customers in the United States and internationally, buyers on the spot market, and independent entrepreneurs who operate primarily Marathon branded outlets, as well as through long-term fuel supply contracts to direct dealer locations primarily under the ARCO brand. The Midstream segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil and refined products through refining logistics assets, pipelines, terminals, towboats, and barges; gathers, processes, and transports natural gas; and gathers, transports, fractionates, stores, and markets natural gas liquids. Marathon Petroleum Corporation was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Findlay, Ohio.