Marathon Petroleum Raises Dividend 10.0% to $1.10

Marathon Petroleum Corporation raised its quarterly dividend 10.0% to $1.10 a share from $1.00. The stock trades ex-dividend on November 18, 2026, and the payment is due December 10, 2026. The increase lifts the annual dividend to $4.40 a share.

Why the dividend changed

The board approved the increase on October 28, 2026, but the declaration did not provide a specific operating rationale. It described the payment as a regular common-stock dividend, with no split, merger, spinoff or special distribution attached to the change. Marathon Petroleum’s declaration contained only the new rate and payment terms.

The latest reported quarter nevertheless provides the financial context. Marathon Petroleum earned $5.1 billion in the second quarter of 2026, compared with $1.2 billion a year earlier, while adjusted EBITDA rose to $8.5 billion from $3.3 billion. Refining and Marketing adjusted EBITDA reached $6.7 billion as higher crack spreads across all regions supported results. The company ran its refineries at 94% utilization and processed 2.9 million barrels per day. The second-quarter earnings release attributed the improvement primarily to stronger refining margins.

Liquidity and capital returns were also substantial before the increase. Marathon Petroleum ended June with $7.8 billion of cash and equivalents, including cash held by MPLX, and had no borrowings under its $5 billion revolving credit facility. It returned more than $2.8 billion to shareholders during the quarter and retained $6.1 billion of repurchase authorization. Those figures are also reported in the company’s quarterly SEC filing.

Management has linked Marathon Petroleum’s capital-return capacity to both refining performance and distributions from its controlled midstream partnership, MPLX. Chief Executive Maryann Mannen said operational execution, optimization projects and MPLX’s natural-gas and natural-gas-liquids strategy were supporting durable growth and capital returns. The company also completed yield and product-flexibility projects at its El Paso and Robinson refineries during the quarter. Marathon Petroleum’s results provide the project and management commentary.

Dividend track record

The increase extends Marathon Petroleum’s dividend-growth streak to 4 consecutive years. Its 5-year dividend growth rate is 9.4% annual growth, and the latest 10.0% increase is broadly consistent with that pace.

The annual record shows a pause before the current growth sequence. Total dividends were $2.32 a share in both 2020 and 2021. They then increased 7.3% to $2.49 in 2022, 23.5% to $3.08 in 2023, 10.1% to $3.39 in 2024 and 10.2% to $3.73 in 2025. The pattern since 2022 is one of annual increases, with the largest step occurring in 2023 and growth subsequently settling near 10%.

Recent quarterly payments show how the annual progression was built. Marathon Petroleum paid $0.91 on the ex-dividend dates of November 20, 2024, February 19, 2025, May 21, 2025, and August 20, 2025. The rate then moved to $1.00 for four consecutive quarterly payments through August 19, 2026. The new $1.10 rate begins the next step in that sequence.

Is the dividend covered?

The dividend consumes 14% of earnings. That payout ratio leaves most reported profit inside the business and provides a substantial earnings cushion for a cyclical refiner whose margins can move sharply with crack spreads, crude differentials, utilization and maintenance schedules.

SmarterDividends rates the dividend A with a safety score of 89. The grade means very safe, covering scores from 80-100. It reflects strong current earnings coverage, although the underlying refining business remains exposed to commodity-driven swings that can make quarterly profit volatile.

Yield and valuation

At a share price of $432.51, Marathon Petroleum’s forward yield is 0.91%. That is well below the Energy sector median forward yield of 3.94%. The gap reflects the stock’s 136.0% gain over the past year as well as the relatively low earnings payout ratio. At the new rate, 100 shares generate $440.00 in annual dividend income.

SmarterDividends estimates fair value at $295.22 and classifies the shares as overvalued, corresponding to 35% downside to fair value. The valuation assessment and the dividend safety assessment measure different things: the A grade addresses the payout’s coverage, while the fair-value verdict compares the share price with the estimate of underlying value.

What to watch

Marathon Petroleum is scheduled to report third-quarter results on November 3, 2026, before the next ex-dividend date. The company previously guided to total refinery throughput of 3.005 million barrels per day, refining operating costs of $5.60 per barrel and $290 million of planned turnaround costs for the quarter. The report will show how actual refining margins, utilization and maintenance spending compared with that outlook. The company’s earnings notice confirms the reporting date.

Investors can then track the November 18, 2026, ex-dividend date and December 10, 2026, payment. Beyond the immediate payout, the relevant operating items are refining margins, cash generation, spending on refinery optimization projects and distributions received from MPLX, because those sources support Marathon Petroleum’s broader capital-return program.