Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

Investment analysts at StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday. The brokerage set a “buy” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Marathon Oil from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho cut their target price on Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Marathon Oil from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. 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 research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Capital One Financial lowered Marathon Oil from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.65.

Marathon Oil Stock Up 0.1 %

Marathon Oil stock opened at $27.93 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.58. Marathon Oil has a fifty-two week low of $21.81 and a fifty-two week high of $30.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.54 and a beta of 2.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.52.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 13.81% and a net margin of 22.12%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Marathon Oil will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Michael A. Henderson sold 38,000 shares of Marathon Oil 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 76,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,090,489.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, VP Michael A. Henderson sold 38,000 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president now owns 76,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,090,489.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Dane E. Whitehead sold 52,008 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,750,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marathon Oil

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,751,369 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,146,794,000 after buying an additional 6,835,604 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 24.3% in the 4th quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 19,388,560 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $468,428,000 after buying an additional 3,795,020 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Oil in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $64,061,000. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Oil in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $63,556,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.24% 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.