Brokerages Set Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) PT at $32.86

Shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $32.86.

MRO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Argus raised Marathon Oil from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $33.00 price target on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Capital One Financial lowered Marathon Oil from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th.

Marathon Oil Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:MRO opened at $28.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Marathon Oil has a fifty-two week low of $21.81 and a fifty-two week high of $30.06. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $27.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.91. The stock has a market cap of $16.23 billion, a PE ratio of 11.89 and a beta of 2.19.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 13.24% and a net margin of 21.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.67 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Marathon Oil will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.18%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Oil in the fourth quarter valued at $1,440,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 127.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,415,639 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 374.5% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 73,592 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,778,000 after purchasing an additional 58,081 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 137.1% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 304,331 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $7,353,000 after purchasing an additional 175,964 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blackstone Inc. raised its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 23.1% in the fourth 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 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.