Wahed Invest LLC Acquires 801 Shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

Wahed Invest LLC grew its position in shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,574 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 801 shares during the quarter. Wahed Invest LLC’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $361,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Marathon Oil by 10.2% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,727,190 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $392,185,000 after buying an additional 1,357,369 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Marathon Oil by 4.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,461,323 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $242,582,000 after purchasing an additional 328,184 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in Marathon Oil by 10.1% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,443,713 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $184,741,000 after purchasing an additional 593,100 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 0.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,267,506 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $140,274,000 after acquiring an additional 19,566 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 6.3% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,884,151 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $76,805,000 after buying an additional 171,450 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on MRO. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays cut their price objective on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Mizuho dropped their target price on Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. StockNews.com began coverage on Marathon Oil in a report on Sunday, December 1st. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Marathon Oil from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.94.

Marathon Oil Stock Performance

MRO stock opened at $28.55 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $21.81 and a 12-month high of $30.06. The stock 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 50-day moving average is $27.89 and its 200 day moving average is $27.77.

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. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 12.80% and a net margin of 19.73%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.77 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 1.54%. Marathon Oil’s payout ratio is currently 18.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Dane E. Whitehead sold 52,008 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.50, for a total value of $1,430,220.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, 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 the SEC website. Also, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.84, for a total transaction of $1,040,950.96. Following the sale, the insider now owns 104,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,020,557.40. This trade represents a 25.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 344,693 shares of company stock worth $9,930,271. Corporate insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Oil 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.