Marathon Petroleum Stock Is Trending Overnight: Here's Why

Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE:MPC) shares are trending on Thursday.

MPC shares edged up 0.36% to $242.67 in overnight trading on Wednesday.

According to Benzinga Pro data, the stock of the Ohio-based integrated downstream and midstream energy company closed the regular session at $241.81, up 3.96%.

Marathon Petroleum declared a quarterly dividend of $1 per share on Wednesday, payable Jun. 10, to shareholders of record as of May 20.

Iran Blockade Fuels Broad Wednesday Surge

The stock move also follows reports of President Donald Trump and senior officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Vice President JD Vance, and envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, meeting on Tuesday with oil and gas executives, including Chevron (NYSE:CVX) CEO Mike Wirth.

The group discussed sustaining Iran’s blockade “for months if needed.”

Sector Peers Join the Rally

The energy sector broadly surged on Wednesday, with Chevron up 2.05%, Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) gaining 2.72%, Battalion Oil (NYSE:BATL) climbing 7.08% and Trio Petroleum (NYSE:TPET) jumping 9.31%.

What Investors Need To Know

In February, Marathon Petroleum reported fourth-quarter revenue of $33.42 billion, topping analyst estimates of $30.15 billion by 10.86%. Earnings per share came in at $4.07, beating the estimate of $2.72 by 49.63%.

The company is scheduled to report first-quarter 2026 results on May 5, with analysts estimating EPS of $0.73 on revenue of $30.73 billion.

Analyst sentiment on Marathon Petroleum remained broadly bullish through April:

Date	Analyst Firm	Rating	Price Target
April 24	Morgan Stanley	Maintains Overweight	$200 → $233
April 22	Scotiabank	Maintains Sector Outperform	$174 → $210
April 10	Barclays	Maintains Overweight	$194 → $230
April 9	Piper Sandler	Maintains Neutral	$197 → $228
April 2	UBS	Maintains Buy	$221 → $280

Trading Metrics, Technical Analysis

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) of MPC stands at 63.03.

With a market capitalization of $71.21 billion, Marathon has a 52-week high of $255.77 and a 52-week low of $132.

Over the past 12 months, the large-cap company has gained 75.98%.

Currently, MPC is positioned about 88.71% of the way from its 52-week low to its high.

With a strong Momentum in the 89th percentile, Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that MPC is experiencing positive price trend across all time frames.

Photo courtesy: hxdbzxy via Shutterstock

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.