MML Investors Services LLC Has $1.05 Million Position in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 39,552 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,913 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $1,053,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRO. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 10.2% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Marathon Oil by 4.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,461,323 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $242,582,000 after acquiring an additional 328,184 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings 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 worth $184,741,000 after acquiring an additional 593,100 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 0.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 19,566 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 6.3% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 171,450 shares during the last quarter. 77.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on MRO. Barclays reduced their price target on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $27.61 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Marathon Oil in a report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Nine investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marathon Oil

In other news, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 256,591 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.07, for a total value of $7,459,100.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 596,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,335,313.10. This represents a 30.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.84, for a total transaction of $1,040,950.96. Following the sale, the insider now owns 104,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,020,557.40. This represents a 25.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Oil Price Performance

MRO stock opened at $28.55 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $27.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.88. Marathon Oil Co. has a 12 month low of $21.81 and a 12 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 stock has a market capitalization of $15.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.25 and a beta of 2.16.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 19.73% and a return on equity of 12.80%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued 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 payout ratio is presently 18.88%.

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.