Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) Given New $34.00 Price Target at Piper Sandler

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) had its price objective cut by Piper Sandler from $37.00 to $34.00 in a report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on MRO. StockNews.com started coverage on Marathon Oil in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Barclays decreased 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. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $27.61 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Nine equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.94.

Marathon Oil Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRO opened at $28.47 on Monday. Marathon Oil has a twelve month low of $21.81 and a twelve month high of $30.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a market cap of $15.92 billion, a PE ratio of 12.22 and a beta of 2.16. The company’s 50 day moving average is $27.57 and its 200 day moving average is $27.62.

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

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 1.55%. Marathon Oil’s payout ratio is presently 18.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marathon Oil

In other Marathon Oil news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction dated 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 $3,020,557.40. This trade represents a 25.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 256,591 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.07, for a total transaction of $7,459,100.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 596,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,335,313.10. The trade was a 30.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 382,693 shares of company stock worth $10,964,251. Insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marathon Oil

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MRO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Marathon Oil by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,751,369 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,146,794,000 after acquiring an additional 6,835,604 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Marathon Oil in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $64,061,000. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Oil in the second quarter worth $63,556,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 13.1% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,369,821 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $383,313,000 after acquiring an additional 1,552,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Slotnik Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Oil during the second quarter worth $40,779,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.24% of the company’s stock.

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.