Lee M. Tillman Sells 256,591 Shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) Stock

Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 256,591 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.07, for a total transaction of $7,459,100.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 596,330 shares in the company, valued at $17,335,313.10. This represents a 30.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Marathon Oil Price Performance

Shares of Marathon Oil stock traded down $0.24 on Tuesday, reaching $28.75. 4,249,014 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,950,207. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $27.41 and its 200-day moving average is $27.59. The firm has a market cap of $16.08 billion, a PE ratio of 12.44 and a beta of 2.16. Marathon Oil Co. has a one year low of $21.81 and a one year high of $30.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 19.73% and a return on equity of 12.80%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.77 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.88%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marathon Oil

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Marathon Oil by 1,444.1% during the third quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 266,970 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $7,109,000 after acquiring an additional 249,680 shares in the last quarter. Chiron Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Marathon Oil by 14.3% during the third quarter. Chiron Investment Management LLC now owns 9,206 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 1,151 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Marathon Oil by 6.1% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 40,752 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,090,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Marathon Oil by 8.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,490,171 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $39,683,000 after acquiring an additional 120,284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Marathon Oil by 0.6% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 273,434 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $7,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,504 shares in the last quarter. 77.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MRO shares. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $27.61 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.94.

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.