Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) Shares Sold by Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 26.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,615 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 12,131 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $981,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 19,388,560 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $468,428,000 after acquiring an additional 3,795,020 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Marathon Oil by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,797,521 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $315,584,000 after buying an additional 2,176,062 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 127.3% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,527,604 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $61,067,000 after acquiring an additional 1,415,639 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,186,365 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $197,801,000 after acquiring an additional 556,566 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in Marathon Oil by 49.7% in the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,467,965 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $35,466,000 after purchasing an additional 487,514 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on MRO shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $39.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $32.00 price objective on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective on shares of Marathon Oil in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.86.

Marathon Oil Stock Up 0.1 %

Marathon Oil stock opened at $28.71 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.84. The company has a market capitalization of $16.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.86 and a beta of 2.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.55. Marathon Oil Co. has a fifty-two week low of $21.81 and a fifty-two week high of $30.06.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 21.83% and a return on equity of 13.24%. Marathon Oil’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.18%.

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.