Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning. The firm issued a buy rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on MRO. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Susquehanna cut their target price on Marathon Oil from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price 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. Mizuho cut 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. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Oil currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.12.

Marathon Oil Price Performance

Marathon Oil stock opened at $28.59 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.56. The stock has a market cap of $15.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.27 and a beta of 2.16. Marathon Oil has a 12-month low of $21.81 and a 12-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.

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 (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.77 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Marathon Oil will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Marathon Oil’s payout ratio is presently 18.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Dane E. Whitehead sold 52,008 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was 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 directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,750,000. The trade was a 34.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael A. Henderson sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $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. 0.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Oil

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 9.9% during the 1st 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 period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,727,190 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $392,185,000 after acquiring an additional 1,357,369 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,461,323 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $242,582,000 after acquiring an additional 328,184 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its position 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 worth $184,741,000 after buying an additional 593,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted 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 worth $140,274,000 after buying an additional 19,566 shares during the last quarter. 77.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.