Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) Issues Earnings Results

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.03, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 21.83% and a return on equity of 13.22%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share.

Marathon Oil Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE MRO traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $26.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,055,754 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,206,166. Marathon Oil has a twelve month low of $21.63 and a twelve month high of $30.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.88 and a beta of 2.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $27.03 and a 200 day moving average of $25.43.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio is 18.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $39.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Mizuho raised their price objective on Marathon Oil from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group decreased their target price on Marathon Oil from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.66.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marathon Oil

In other news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 39,969 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.89, for a total value of $1,074,766.41. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 176,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,757,459.47. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Marathon Oil news, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 80,647 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.94, for a total value of $2,172,630.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 596,330 shares in the company, valued at $16,065,130.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Patrick Wagner sold 39,969 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.89, for a total transaction of $1,074,766.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 176,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,757,459.47. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 281,332 shares of company stock worth $7,644,903. 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.