Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eighteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $30.94.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MRO shares. Mizuho reduced their target price on Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Marathon Oil in a report on Saturday. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $27.61 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd.

Marathon Oil Stock Performance

Shares of MRO opened at $28.55 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.25 and a beta of 2.16. Marathon Oil has a twelve month low of $21.81 and a twelve month high of $30.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.67.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 19.73% and a return on equity of 12.80%. Marathon Oil’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Marathon Oil will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.88%.

Insider Activity at Marathon Oil

In other news, VP Michael A. Henderson sold 38,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 76,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,090,489.88. This represents a 33.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of Marathon Oil 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 104,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,020,557.40. The trade was a 25.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 382,693 shares of company stock valued at $10,964,251. 0.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Oil

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $392,185,000 after acquiring an additional 1,357,369 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position 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 during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,443,713 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $184,741,000 after purchasing an additional 593,100 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 0.4% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 19,566 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,884,151 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $76,805,000 after purchasing an additional 171,450 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.24% of the company’s stock.

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.