Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Grows Position in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 12.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,878 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 528 shares during the quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $118,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MRO. Smithfield Trust Co boosted its holdings in Marathon Oil by 367.9% during the 3rd quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 1,020 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Oil in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Oil in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Central Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Oil during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in Marathon Oil during the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,000. 77.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Marathon Oil

In other news, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 80,647 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,065,130.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 80,647 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,065,130.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Dane E. Whitehead sold 73,233 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.06, for a total transaction of $1,981,684.98. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 152,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,113,336.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 281,332 shares of company stock valued at $7,644,903 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MRO. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 price target on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Barclays began coverage on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $35.00 target price for the company. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and set a $33.00 target price on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $26.50 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.66.

Marathon Oil Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Marathon Oil stock opened at $27.53 on Thursday. Marathon Oil Co. has a 12-month low of $21.63 and a 12-month high of $30.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market cap of $15.73 billion, a PE ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 2.22. The company has a 50-day moving average of $26.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.42.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.07. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 23.20% and a return on equity of 14.09%. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.66 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.19%.

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.