Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 34,503 Shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 5.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 664,128 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 34,503 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $17,686,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 9.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 6,835,604 shares during the last quarter. 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 position in Marathon Oil during the 2nd quarter worth about $63,556,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position 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 buying an additional 1,552,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Slotnik Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Oil in the second quarter valued at about $40,779,000. 77.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Marathon Oil from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Truist Financial reduced 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 note on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective 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 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.12.

Marathon Oil Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE MRO opened at $28.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.61. Marathon Oil Co. has a 1 year low of $21.81 and a 1 year high of $30.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.38 and a beta of 2.16. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $27.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.54.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Michael A. Henderson sold 38,000 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 value of $1,430,220.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,750,000. This trade represents a 34.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.