Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Purchases 11,259 Shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 249,750 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 11,259 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $6,088,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 1.6% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,569 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $711,000 after purchasing an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 5.0% during the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 9,879 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $237,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 23,631 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $571,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares during the period. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 41.3% during the first quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,679 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares during the period. Finally, High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 50.0% during the first quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,500 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. 77.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $32.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Five 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Oil presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.74.

Marathon Oil Stock Performance

Shares of MRO opened at $29.29 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $25.29 and a 200-day moving average of $25.23. Marathon Oil Co. has a one year low of $21.63 and a one year high of $29.81. The company has a market cap of $16.74 billion, a PE ratio of 11.44 and a beta of 2.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.07. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 23.20% and a return on equity of 14.09%. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.66 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.19%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 80,647 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.94, for a total value of $2,172,630.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 596,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,065,130.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 80,647 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.94, for a total transaction of $2,172,630.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 596,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,065,130.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.65, for a total transaction of $997,999.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 140,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,893,921.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 281,332 shares of company stock valued at $7,644,903 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.42% 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.