Piper Sandler Cuts Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) Price Target to $34.00

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) had its target price lowered by Piper Sandler from $37.00 to $34.00 in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

MRO has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Marathon Oil from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Marathon Oil from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays cut their target price on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Marathon Oil from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Oil presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.94.

Marathon Oil Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRO opened at $28.99 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $27.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.57. Marathon Oil has a twelve month low of $21.81 and a twelve month high of $30.06. The company has a market cap of $16.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.44 and a beta of 2.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.01. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 12.80% and a net margin of 19.73%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.77 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Marathon Oil will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio is 18.88%.

Insider Activity at Marathon Oil

In other Marathon Oil news, insider Dane E. Whitehead sold 52,008 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.50, for a total value of $1,430,220.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,750,000. The trade was a 34.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael A. Henderson sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.21, for a total value of $1,033,980.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 76,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,090,489.88. This represents a 33.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Marathon Oil by 9.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,751,369 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,146,794,000 after buying an additional 6,835,604 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Marathon Oil during the 2nd quarter worth $64,061,000. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Oil in the 2nd quarter valued at $63,556,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,369,821 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $383,313,000 after purchasing an additional 1,552,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Slotnik Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Oil in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,779,000. 77.24% of the stock is 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.