Marathon Petroleum price target lowered to $168 from $190 at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler lowered the firm’s price target on Marathon Petroleum to $168 from $190 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares. With refining margins continuing to struggle under the combination of robust supply and “underwhelming” demand, Piper lowered Q2 estimates, reducing earnings estimates by 43%, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm now sees 42% downside to Street estimates on average across the intendent refiner group. Piper says that with the shape of the forward refining margin curve largely backward-dated, and the market currently well supplied, it expects the market has “largely abandoned the idea of a driving season rally, in the absence of a supply outage,” with second half of 2024 estimates likely moving lower as well.