Marathon Oil (MRO) – Research Analysts’ Recent Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have updated their recommendations and price targets on shares of Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO) in the last few weeks:

• 4/22/2024 – Marathon Oil had its “positive” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Susquehanna. They now have a $33.00 price target on the stock.
• 4/19/2024 – Marathon Oil had its price target raised by analysts at Piper Sandler from $32.00 to $34.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 4/15/2024 – Marathon Oil had its price target raised by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $26.00 to $27.00. They now have an “equal weight” rating on the stock.
• 4/11/2024 – Marathon Oil had its price target raised by analysts at Scotiabank from $35.00 to $45.00. They now have a “sector outperform” rating on the stock.
• 4/10/2024 – Marathon Oil is now covered by analysts at Barclays PLC. They set an “overweight” rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock.
• 4/5/2024 – Marathon Oil had its price target raised by analysts at Truist Financial Co. from $35.00 to $36.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 3/28/2024 – Marathon Oil had its price target raised by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $24.00 to $26.00. They now have an “equal weight” rating on the stock.
• 3/26/2024 – Marathon Oil had its price target raised by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. from $26.50 to $30.00. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock.
• 3/22/2024 – Marathon Oil had its price target raised by analysts at Mizuho from $28.00 to $31.00. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock.
• 3/22/2024 – Marathon Oil had its price target lowered by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $39.00 to $36.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 3/14/2024 – Marathon Oil was upgraded by analysts at Argus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating. They now have a $31.00 price target on the stock.
• 3/13/2024 – Marathon Oil had its price target raised by analysts at Benchmark Co. from $25.00 to $32.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 3/6/2024 – Marathon Oil had its price target lowered by analysts at UBS Group AG from $28.00 to $27.00. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock.
• 3/5/2024 – Marathon Oil had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada. They now have a $33.00 price target on the stock.
• 2/23/2024 – Marathon Oil had its price target lowered by analysts at Truist Financial Co. from $38.00 to $35.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.

Marathon Oil Trading Up 0.5 %

MRO stock traded up $0.15 during trading on Monday, hitting $27.65. The company had a trading volume of 7,343,935 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,846,644. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.22. Marathon Oil Co. has a 52-week low of $21.63 and a 52-week high of $30.06. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.66 billion. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 23.20% and a return on equity of 14.09%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. Marathon Oil’s payout ratio is 17.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Marathon Oil news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 39,969 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 176,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,757,459.47. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 39,969 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.89, for a total value of $1,074,766.41. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 176,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,757,459.47. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 80,647 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.94, for a total transaction of $2,172,630.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 596,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,065,130.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 281,332 shares of company stock worth $7,644,903 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Accel Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Oil in the 1st quarter worth approximately $202,000. Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Oil in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,341,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC grew its position in Marathon Oil by 64.0% during the 1st quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 17,396 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $493,000 after purchasing an additional 6,789 shares during the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Marathon Oil during the 1st quarter worth approximately $206,000. Finally, Viking Fund Management LLC grew its position in Marathon Oil by 12.5% during the 1st quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC now owns 180,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,101,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.24% of the company’s stock.

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.