Quest Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 35,904 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $956,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Gradient Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 22,829 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $655,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 24,084 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $641,000 after acquiring an additional 454 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 77.4% in the 2nd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 1,066 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC raised its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 16,533 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $440,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Founders Capital Management raised its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 1,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. 77.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target 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. UBS Group reduced their price target on Marathon Oil from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Scotiabank boosted their price target 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. Barclays reduced their target price on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their target price on Marathon Oil from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.94.

Marathon Oil Stock Up 0.6 %

Marathon Oil stock opened at $28.92 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.69. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.61. The company has a market cap of $16.18 billion, a PE ratio of 12.41 and a beta of 2.16. Marathon Oil Co. has a fifty-two week low of $21.81 and a fifty-two week high of $30.06.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.77 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid 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 1.52%. Marathon Oil’s payout ratio is 18.88%.

Insider Transactions at Marathon Oil

In other news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.84, for a total value of $1,040,950.96. Following the sale, the insider now owns 104,735 shares in the company, valued at $3,020,557.40. This represents a 25.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael A. Henderson sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.21, for a total value of $1,033,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 76,828 shares in the company, valued at $2,090,489.88. The trade was a 33.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 382,693 shares of company stock worth $10,964,251 over the last quarter. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.