Benchmark Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO)

Benchmark reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Benchmark currently has a $32.00 price target on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Marathon Oil from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Raymond James decreased their price target on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $32.00 and set a strong-buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Susquehanna restated a positive rating and issued a $33.00 target price on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Marathon Oil from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an overweight rating and a $35.00 target price on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $32.61.

Marathon Oil Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MRO opened at $26.72 on Friday. Marathon Oil has a one year low of $21.81 and a one year high of $30.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.04 and a beta of 2.22.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 21.83% and a return on equity of 13.24%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.67 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Marathon Oil will post 2.83 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. Marathon Oil’s payout ratio is currently 18.18%.

Insider Activity

In other Marathon Oil news, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 80,647 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.94, for a total value of $2,172,630.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 596,330 shares in the company, valued at $16,065,130.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Marathon Oil news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 39,969 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.89, for a total value of $1,074,766.41. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 176,923 shares in the company, valued at $4,757,459.47. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 80,647 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 596,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,065,130.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 281,332 shares of company stock valued at $7,644,903 in the last ninety days. 0.35% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Oil

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MRO. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Marathon Oil by 51.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 27,988,152 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $748,683,000 after acquiring an additional 9,504,754 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Marathon Oil by 24.3% during the 4th quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 19,388,560 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $468,428,000 after purchasing an additional 3,795,020 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Marathon Oil by 22.6% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,797,521 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $315,584,000 after buying an additional 2,176,062 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 127.3% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,527,604 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $61,067,000 after buying an additional 1,415,639 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Korea Investment CORP increased its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 787.1% during the third quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 1,475,267 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $39,463,000 after acquiring an additional 1,308,965 shares in the last quarter. 77.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Marathon Oil

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.