Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC Has $216.03 Million Stake in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,112,234 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 383,710 shares during the quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $216,029,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 0.4% in the third 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 acquiring an additional 19,566 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 6.3% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,884,151 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $76,805,000 after acquiring an additional 171,450 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $392,185,000 after buying an additional 1,357,369 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Marathon Oil during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,673,000. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its position in Marathon Oil by 70.0% during the third quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 68,864 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,834,000 after purchasing an additional 28,350 shares in the last quarter. 77.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MRO shares. StockNews.com began coverage on Marathon Oil in a research note on Sunday. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Marathon Oil from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Nine 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.94.

Insider Transactions at Marathon Oil

In other Marathon Oil news, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 256,591 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.07, for a total transaction of $7,459,100.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 596,330 shares in the company, valued at $17,335,313.10. This represents a 30.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.84, for a total value of $1,040,950.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 104,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,020,557.40. This represents a 25.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 382,693 shares of company stock worth $10,964,251. Company insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Oil Price Performance

Marathon Oil stock opened at $28.55 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.73. Marathon Oil Co. has a 12-month low of $21.81 and a 12-month high of $30.06. The stock has a market cap of $15.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.25 and a beta of 2.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last announced its quarterly 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. 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 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 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

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

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.