Brokerages Set Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) Target Price at $30.94

Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $30.94.

MRO has been the topic of several research reports. Susquehanna lowered their target price on Marathon Oil from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $27.61 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

Marathon Oil Price Performance

MRO opened at $28.55 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $15.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.25 and a beta of 2.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.69. Marathon Oil has a fifty-two week low of $21.81 and a fifty-two week high of $30.06. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $28.14 and a 200 day moving average of $27.90.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.01. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 19.73% and a return on equity of 12.80%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. Marathon Oil’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Marathon Oil will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.88%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.84, for a total value 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 256,591 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.07, for a total transaction of $7,459,100.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 596,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,335,313.10. This trade represents a 30.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Oil

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 10.2% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,727,190 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $392,185,000 after buying an additional 1,357,369 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Marathon Oil by 4.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,461,323 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $242,582,000 after purchasing an additional 328,184 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 10.1% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,443,713 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $184,741,000 after purchasing an additional 593,100 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 0.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,267,506 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $140,274,000 after buying an additional 19,566 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Marathon Oil by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,884,151 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $76,805,000 after buying an additional 171,450 shares during the last quarter. 77.24% of the stock is 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.