Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on MRO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays lowered their price target on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 30th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Marathon Oil from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.94.

Marathon Oil Price Performance

Shares of MRO stock opened at $28.55 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $27.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.67. Marathon Oil has a 52-week low of $21.81 and a 52-week high of $30.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.25 and a beta of 2.16.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 12.80% and a net margin of 19.73%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Marathon Oil will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.84, for a total transaction of $1,040,950.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 104,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,020,557.40. The trade was a 25.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael A. Henderson sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.21, for a total transaction of $1,033,980.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 76,828 shares in the company, valued at $2,090,489.88. This trade represents a 33.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 382,693 shares of company stock valued at $10,964,251. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marathon Oil

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Oil in the second quarter worth $26,000. Founders Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 100.0% in the second quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 1,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Highbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Marathon Oil during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Grove Bank & Trust raised its position in Marathon Oil by 77.4% during the second quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 1,066 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Marathon Oil in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.24% 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.