Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

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

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on MRO. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Marathon Oil from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Marathon Oil from $27.61 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.94.

Marathon Oil Stock Performance

Shares of MRO opened at $28.55 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.25 and a beta of 2.16. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.67. Marathon Oil has a 12 month low of $21.81 and a 12 month high of $30.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 EPS 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 company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. Marathon Oil’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Marathon Oil will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Marathon Oil’s payout ratio is currently 18.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marathon Oil

In related news, insider Dane E. Whitehead sold 52,008 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.50, for a total transaction of $1,430,220.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,750,000. This represents a 34.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Michael A. Henderson sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.21, for a total transaction of $1,033,980.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 76,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,090,489.88. This trade represents a 33.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 382,693 shares of company stock valued at $10,964,251 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Oil

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Marathon Oil during the second quarter valued at approximately $64,061,000. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Marathon Oil during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $63,556,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Marathon Oil by 13.1% during 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 buying an additional 1,552,210 shares during the period. Slotnik Capital LLC purchased a new position in Marathon Oil during the second quarter worth $40,779,000. Finally, Water Island Capital LLC bought a new position in Marathon Oil during the second quarter valued at $33,273,000. 77.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.