Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) Receives $30.94 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $30.94.

Several equities analysts have commented on MRO shares. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Saturday, November 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Truist Financial cut their target price on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Marathon Oil from $27.61 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th.

Marathon Oil Stock Performance

Shares of MRO stock opened at $28.55 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $15.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.25 and a beta of 2.16. Marathon Oil has a 1 year low of $21.81 and a 1 year 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.69.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.01. The firm 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 company’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Marathon Oil will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Marathon Oil

In other news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 104,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,020,557.40. This represents a 25.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael A. Henderson sold 38,000 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 76,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,090,489.88. This represents a 33.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 382,693 shares of company stock worth $10,964,251. Company insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Oil

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 0.4% during the 3rd 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. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Marathon Oil by 6.3% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,884,151 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $76,805,000 after acquiring an additional 171,450 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,357,369 shares during the period. Comerica Bank increased its stake in Marathon Oil by 15.0% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 172,258 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $4,882,000 after purchasing an additional 22,526 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Oil during the second quarter valued at about $6,673,000. Institutional investors 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.