SG Americas Securities LLC Reduces Stock Position in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

SG Americas Securities LLC decreased its stake in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 20.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 77,026 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 19,846 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $1,861,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Marathon Oil by 0.8% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,341,531 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,213,856,000 after acquiring an additional 392,821 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Marathon Oil by 51.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 27,988,152 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $748,683,000 after acquiring an additional 9,504,754 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Marathon Oil by 22.6% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,797,521 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $315,584,000 after acquiring an additional 2,176,062 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Marathon Oil by 1,220.4% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,754,588 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $219,828,000 after acquiring an additional 8,091,570 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Marathon Oil by 60.1% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,739,802 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $194,346,000 after acquiring an additional 2,904,140 shares during the period. 77.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 39,969 shares of Marathon Oil 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 176,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,757,459.47. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 80,647 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.94, for a total value of $2,172,630.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 596,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,065,130.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Patrick Wagner sold 39,969 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,757,459.47. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 245,238 shares of company stock valued at $6,646,904. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on MRO. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Marathon Oil from $39.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Argus upgraded Marathon Oil from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $33.00 target price on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Marathon Oil from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Marathon Oil currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.62.

Marathon Oil Price Performance

MRO stock opened at $27.72 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $24.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.09. 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 market cap of $16.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.83 and a beta of 2.21. Marathon Oil Co. has a 52-week low of $21.63 and a 52-week high of $29.56.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.66 billion. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 14.09% and a net margin of 23.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

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

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.