Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.11

Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a dividend of 0.11 per share by the oil and gas producer on Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%.

Marathon Oil has raised its dividend by an average of 72.4% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive years. Marathon Oil has a payout ratio of 13.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Marathon Oil to earn $3.12 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.1%.

Marathon Oil Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of MRO traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $27.53. 5,976,387 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,809,234. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.40. Marathon Oil has a 52 week low of $21.63 and a 52 week high of $30.06. The company has a market cap of $15.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.73 and a beta of 2.22.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.66 billion. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 23.20% and a return on equity of 14.09%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Marathon Oil will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.65, for a total value of $997,999.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 140,829 shares in the company, valued at $3,893,921.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.65, for a total value of $997,999.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 140,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,893,921.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 80,647 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 596,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,065,130.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 281,332 shares of company stock worth $7,644,903 over the last 90 days. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on MRO shares. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Monday. Raymond James decreased their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $32.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Barclays began coverage on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $35.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Marathon Oil has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.66.

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.