National Pension Service Purchases 25,518 Shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

National Pension Service lifted its position in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,082,770 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 25,518 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned about 0.19% of Marathon Oil worth $28,834,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Marathon Oil by 9.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 6,835,604 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Marathon Oil during the second quarter valued at $64,061,000. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Oil during the second quarter valued at $63,556,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Marathon Oil by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,369,821 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $383,313,000 after buying an additional 1,552,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Slotnik Capital LLC purchased a new position in Marathon Oil in the 2nd quarter worth about $40,779,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on MRO shares. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Truist Financial cut their target price 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. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Marathon Oil in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Marathon Oil from $27.61 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Marathon Oil from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.12.

Marathon Oil Stock Performance

NYSE MRO opened at $28.54 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $27.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.52. The firm has a market cap of $15.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.11 and a beta of 2.16. Marathon Oil Co. has a twelve month low of $21.81 and a twelve month high of $30.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.03. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 22.12% and a return on equity of 13.81%. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.77 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.12%.

Insider Transactions at Marathon Oil

In other Marathon Oil news, VP Michael A. Henderson sold 38,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 76,828 shares in the company, valued at $2,090,489.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Dane E. Whitehead sold 52,008 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.50, for a total value of $1,430,220.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,750,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael A. Henderson sold 38,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.21, for a total transaction of $1,033,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 76,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,090,489.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.35% 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.