Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 328,184 Shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,461,323 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 328,184 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 1.51% of Marathon Oil worth $242,582,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Marathon Oil by 9.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,751,369 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,146,794,000 after purchasing an additional 6,835,604 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 24.3% in the 4th quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 19,388,560 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $468,428,000 after acquiring an additional 3,795,020 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Oil during the 2nd quarter valued at $64,061,000. Pentwater Capital Management LP bought a new position in Marathon Oil during the second quarter worth $30,104,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in Marathon Oil by 323.9% in the first quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,369,127 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $38,801,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,122 shares during the period. 77.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MRO. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. StockNews.com started coverage on Marathon Oil in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Capital One Financial cut Marathon Oil from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Nine 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Oil presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.65.

Marathon Oil Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Marathon Oil stock opened at $27.43 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $27.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market cap of $15.34 billion, a PE ratio of 11.33 and a beta of 2.16. Marathon Oil Co. has a 1 year low of $21.81 and a 1 year high of $30.06.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.69 billion. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 13.81% and a net margin of 22.12%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.48 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. Marathon Oil’s payout ratio is 18.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marathon Oil

In other news, VP Michael A. Henderson sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.21, for a total transaction of $1,033,980.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 76,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,090,489.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.