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

Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $32.66.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Marathon Oil from $39.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays assumed coverage on Marathon Oil in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Marathon Oil from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday.

Marathon Oil Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE MRO opened at $28.77 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.30. Marathon Oil has a one year low of $21.63 and a one year high of $30.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.24 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.07. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 14.09% and a net margin of 23.20%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.66 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Marathon Oil will post 2.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Dane E. Whitehead sold 73,233 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.06, for a total transaction of $1,981,684.98. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 152,008 shares in the company, valued at $4,113,336.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Marathon Oil news, CFO Dane E. Whitehead sold 73,233 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.06, for a total value of $1,981,684.98. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 152,008 shares in the company, valued at $4,113,336.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.65, for a total value of $997,999.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 140,829 shares in the company, valued at $3,893,921.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 281,332 shares of company stock worth $7,644,903. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Oil

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in shares of Marathon Oil in the fourth quarter valued at $1,440,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 57.4% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 607,336 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $16,246,000 after purchasing an additional 221,388 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 3.3% in the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,692,600 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $125,527,000 after purchasing an additional 150,440 shares in the last quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 9.3% in the third quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 849,254 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $22,718,000 after purchasing an additional 71,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathstone Family Office LLC grew its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 222.3% in the third quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC now owns 67,851 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,815,000 after purchasing an additional 46,796 shares in 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.