B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Sells 7,822 Shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lowered its position in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 30.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,025 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 7,822 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $435,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRO. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Oil during the third quarter worth about $323,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Marathon Oil by 78.7% during the 3rd quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 25,061 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $670,000 after buying an additional 11,037 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in Marathon Oil by 9.3% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 324,854 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $8,690,000 after buying an additional 27,598 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 19.2% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 463,582 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $12,401,000 after buying an additional 74,674 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 38.5% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 5,192 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $139,000 after acquiring an additional 1,443 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Marathon Oil from $39.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $33.00 price target on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Marathon Oil from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Marathon Oil news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.65, for a total transaction of $997,999.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 140,829 shares in the company, valued at $3,893,921.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Marathon Oil Trading Up 3.5 %

Marathon Oil stock opened at $28.74 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.88 and a beta of 2.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.55. Marathon Oil Co. has a 52 week low of $21.81 and a 52 week high of $30.06.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.03. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 13.24% and a net margin of 21.83%. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. Marathon Oil’s payout ratio is presently 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.