Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Boosts Stock Holdings in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its position in shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 9.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 81,935 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,873 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $2,322,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MRO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 9.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,751,369 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,146,794,000 after purchasing an additional 6,835,604 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 24.3% during the fourth quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 19,388,560 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $468,428,000 after purchasing an additional 3,795,020 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake 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 worth $61,067,000 after purchasing an additional 1,415,639 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in Marathon Oil by 16.4% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 5,850,613 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $165,806,000 after acquiring an additional 825,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Marathon Oil by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,186,365 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $197,801,000 after acquiring an additional 556,566 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MRO shares. Barclays started coverage on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $33.00 target price on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.14.

Marathon Oil Price Performance

Shares of MRO traded down $0.44 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $28.28. 3,776,946 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,371,896. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.24. Marathon Oil Co. has a 52-week low of $21.81 and a 52-week high of $30.06. The company has a market cap of $15.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.82 and a beta of 2.19.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.03. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 21.83% and a return on equity of 13.24%. The business had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th were given 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 yield of 1.56%. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.18%.

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.