Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on MRO. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 18th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price objective on Marathon Oil from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Marathon Oil currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.94.

Marathon Oil Price Performance

Marathon Oil stock opened at $28.55 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.69. Marathon Oil has a 1 year low of $21.81 and a 1 year high of $30.06. The company has a market capitalization of $15.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.25 and a beta of 2.16.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.01. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 12.80% and a net margin of 19.73%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.77 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Marathon Oil will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.88%.

Insider Activity at Marathon Oil

In related news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.84, for a total value of $1,040,950.96. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 104,735 shares in the company, valued at $3,020,557.40. This trade represents a 25.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 256,591 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.07, for a total transaction of $7,459,100.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 596,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,335,313.10. The trade was a 30.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Oil

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Marathon Oil in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $64,061,000. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Oil in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $63,556,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 13.1% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,369,821 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $383,313,000 after buying an additional 1,552,210 shares in the last quarter. Slotnik Capital LLC acquired a new position in Marathon Oil during the second quarter worth $40,779,000. Finally, Water Island Capital LLC acquired a new position in Marathon Oil during the second quarter worth $33,273,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.24% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Oil Company 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.