Secure Asset Management LLC Buys 2,614 Shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

Secure Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 47,905 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,614 shares during the quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $1,373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 127.3% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,527,604 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $61,067,000 after buying an additional 1,415,639 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its holdings in Marathon Oil by 374.5% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 73,592 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,778,000 after acquiring an additional 58,081 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Marathon Oil by 137.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 304,331 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $7,353,000 after purchasing an additional 175,964 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. boosted its holdings in Marathon Oil by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 79,901 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,930,000 after purchasing an additional 15,000 shares during the period. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Oil during the 4th quarter valued at $5,051,000. 77.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MRO. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Marathon Oil from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $29.00 price target (down previously from $38.00) on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Friday, May 31st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Monday. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $33.00 price target on shares of Marathon Oil in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Marathon Oil has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.40.

Marathon Oil Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Marathon Oil stock traded up $0.43 on Friday, hitting $28.10. The stock had a trading volume of 3,959,766 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,796,340. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Marathon Oil Co. has a one year low of $21.81 and a one year high of $30.06. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.00. The stock has a market cap of $15.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.61 and a beta of 2.19.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 13.81% and a net margin of 22.12%. Marathon Oil’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.48 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. Marathon Oil’s payout ratio is 18.18%.

Marathon Oil Profile

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.