Sigma Planning Corp Sells 16,506 Shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

Sigma Planning Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 42.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,487 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 16,506 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $543,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MRO. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 9,504,754 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,176,062 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP raised its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 787.1% during the third quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 1,475,267 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $39,463,000 after purchasing an additional 1,308,965 shares during the period. Aviva PLC raised its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 284.3% during the third quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 974,186 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $26,059,000 after purchasing an additional 720,718 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 9.3% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,485,704 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $173,493,000 after purchasing an additional 550,473 shares during the period. 77.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Marathon Oil news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 39,969 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 176,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,757,459.47. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Marathon Oil news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 39,969 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 176,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,757,459.47. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 80,647 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 596,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,065,130.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 281,332 shares of company stock worth $7,644,903 in the last quarter. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MRO. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $33.00 target price on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Monday. UBS Group lowered their target price 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. Raymond James lowered their price target on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $32.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Tuesday. Five investment 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.66.

Marathon Oil Stock Up 0.8 %

MRO stock opened at $27.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.40. The company has a market capitalization of $15.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.84 and a beta of 2.22. Marathon Oil Co. has a fifty-two week low of $21.63 and a fifty-two week high of $30.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $26.63 and a 200-day moving average of $25.43.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last issued its 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. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 14.09% and a net margin of 23.20%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.66 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.