Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) in a report released on Monday. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Susquehanna reaffirmed a positive rating and issued a $33.00 price objective on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Argus upgraded shares of Marathon Oil from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $31.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a buy rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $32.86.

Marathon Oil Stock Performance

MRO stock opened at $28.58 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.12 billion, a PE ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 2.17. Marathon Oil has a 12-month low of $21.81 and a 12-month high of $30.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.75.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 13.24% and a net margin of 21.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Marathon Oil will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. Marathon Oil’s payout ratio is presently 18.18%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marathon Oil

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Chelsea Counsel Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 30.7% in the 1st quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 39,200 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,111,000 after acquiring an additional 9,200 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 19.8% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,044 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $109,000 after acquiring an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 126.9% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 20,200 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $572,000 after acquiring an additional 11,299 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 217.2% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 125,082 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,545,000 after acquiring an additional 85,649 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Shields & Co. LLC purchased a new stake in Marathon Oil in the 1st quarter worth about $181,000. Hedge funds and other 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.