Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) Shares Acquired by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 227.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 163,231 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 113,429 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $4,346,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $2,146,794,000 after acquiring an additional 6,835,604 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Marathon Oil in the second quarter valued at $64,061,000. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in Marathon Oil during the 2nd quarter worth $63,556,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased 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 worth $383,313,000 after purchasing an additional 1,552,210 shares during the period. Finally, Slotnik Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Marathon Oil in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,779,000. 77.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Marathon Oil Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:MRO opened at $28.59 on Monday. 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 Co. has a 52-week low of $21.81 and a 52-week high of $30.06. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $27.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.56. The company has a market capitalization of $15.99 billion, a PE ratio of 12.27 and a beta of 2.16.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.01. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 19.73% and a return on equity of 12.80%. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 18.88%.

Insider Transactions at Marathon Oil

In other news, insider Dane E. Whitehead sold 52,008 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,750,000. This trade represents a 34.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael A. Henderson sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,090,489.88. This trade 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MRO shares. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Marathon Oil from $27.61 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Friday. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Marathon Oil from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Nine equities research 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.12.

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.