Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) Shares Sold by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its position in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO – Get Rating) by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,411,943 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 626,584 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 1.17% of Marathon Oil worth $167,362,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Oil in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Oil during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 90.6% during the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,361 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 39.9% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,379 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 76.6% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,427 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 619 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 23rd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 7th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $37.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.88.

Marathon Oil Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MRO opened at $21.20 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $26.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 2.38. Marathon Oil Co. has a 12-month low of $19.42 and a 12-month high of $33.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 44.95% and a return on equity of 27.07%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Marathon Oil Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 15th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 14th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. This is a positive change from Marathon Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.71%.

Marathon Oil Profile

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Marathon Oil Corp. engages in the exploration, production, and marketing of liquid hydrocarbons and natural gas. It operates through the following two segments: United States (U. S.) and International. The U. S. segment engages in oil and gas exploration, development and production activities in the U.S.