On Friday, Shares of Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: MPC) declined -1.70% to $62.04. The stock traded total volume of 4,362,925 shares lower than the average volume of 6.29M shares.
Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC) recently stated fourth-quarter 2018 earnings of $951.0M, or $1.35 per diluted share. Earnings included costs of $745.0M, or $1.06 per diluted share, because of purchase accounting related inventory effects, expenses associated with the Andeavor combination, and MPLX debt extinguishment costs. This compares with $2.02B, or $4.09 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2017. Fourth quarter 2017 results included a benefit of $1.50B, or $3.04 per diluted share, resulting from a change in the corporate tax rate.
In 2018, MPC returned $4.20B of capital to shareholders, counting $3.30B of share repurchases. In Addition To, on January 28, 2019, MPC declared a 15 percent increase in the quarterly dividend, to $0.53 per share. The company remains committed to returning at least 50 percent of discretionary free cash flow to shareholders over the long term through a combination of dividends and share repurchases while maintaining its investment grade credit profile.
Full-year 2018 earnings were $2.78B, or $5.28 per diluted share, contrast with $3.43B, or $6.70 per diluted share, for full-year 2017. 2018 earnings reflect one quarter of results from the combined business following the closing of the Andeavor acquisition on October 1, 2018. Full-year earnings also included costs of $789.0M, or $1.50 per diluted share, mainly because of purchase accounting related inventory effects and expenses associated with the Andeavor combination. 2017 earnings included a net benefit of $1.50B, or $2.93 per diluted share, resulting from a change in the corporate tax rate.
Total income from operations was $2.02B in the fourth quarter of 2018 and $5.57B for full-year 2018, contrast with $1.17B in the fourth quarter of 2017 and $4.02B for full-year 2017. MPC stated adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Adjusted EBITDA) of $4.10B for the fourth quarter 2018 as contrast to $1.80B for fourth quarter 2017.
Strong Financial Position and Liquidity:
On Dec. 31, 2018, the company had $1.61B in cash and cash equivalents (excluding MPLX and ANDX's cash and cash equivalents of $68.0M and $10.0M, respectively), $5.00B available under a revolving credit agreement, $1.0B available under a 364-day bank revolving credit facility and $750.0M available under its trade receivables securitization facility.
In connection with the redemption of its Senior Notes due 2023 during the quarter, MPLX incurred about $60.0M of debt extinguishment costs.
MPC has the market capitalization of $43.29B and its EPS growth ratio for the past five years was 9.70%. The return on assets ratio of the Company was 4.50% while its return on investment ratio stands at 7.20%. Price to sales ratio was 0.45 while 81.10% of the stock was owned by institutional investors.
