Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $32.14.

MRO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Marathon Oil from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Scotiabank cut Marathon Oil from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $45.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, July 12th. Capital One Financial cut Marathon Oil from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Susquehanna increased their price target on Marathon Oil from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Marathon Oil from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th.

Marathon Oil Price Performance

MRO opened at $28.05 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The business has a fifty day moving average of $28.04 and a 200 day moving average of $26.46. The stock has a market cap of $15.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.59 and a beta of 2.19. Marathon Oil has a 52-week low of $21.81 and a 52-week high of $30.06.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.03. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 13.24% and a net margin of 21.83%. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Marathon Oil will post 2.79 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.18%.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Oil

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pentwater Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Marathon Oil in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,104,000. Hi Line Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 61.0% during the second quarter. Hi Line Capital Management LLC now owns 58,151 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,667,000 after acquiring an additional 22,036 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Oil during the second quarter valued at about $24,399,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 59.1% during the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 11,644 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $334,000 after acquiring an additional 4,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Mountain Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 8.1% during the second quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 9,736 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $279,000 after acquiring an additional 728 shares in the last quarter. 77.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Marathon Oil

Marathon Oil Corporation, an independent exploration and production company, engages in exploration, production, and marketing of crude oil and condensate, natural gas liquids, and natural gas in the United States and internationally. The company also produces and markets products manufactured from natural gas, such as liquefied natural gas and methanol.