Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) Insider Patrick Wagner Sells 36,094 Shares

Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.65, for a total transaction of $997,999.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 140,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,893,921.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Patrick Wagner also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, March 19th, Patrick Wagner sold 39,969 shares of Marathon Oil stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.89, for a total value of $1,074,766.41.

Marathon Oil Stock Performance

MRO stock traded up $0.63 during trading on Thursday, reaching $28.34. 11,669,070 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,954,638. The firm has a market cap of $16.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.04 and a beta of 2.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Marathon Oil Co. has a 1-year low of $21.63 and a 1-year high of $29.56. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $24.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.09.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.07. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 23.20% and a return on equity of 14.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.66 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. Marathon Oil’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.19%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 51.4% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Marathon Oil by 1,220.4% in 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 buying an additional 8,091,570 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 1,134.4% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,457,542 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $130,763,000 after buying an additional 5,015,428 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Oil during the 2nd quarter valued at $89,591,000. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $468,428,000 after acquiring an additional 3,795,020 shares during the last quarter. 77.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MRO shares. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Benchmark increased their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Marathon Oil from $26.50 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.68.

Marathon Oil Company Profile

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.