Quest Partners LLC Takes Position in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 35,904 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $956,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Comerica Bank boosted its position in Marathon Oil by 15.0% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 172,258 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,882,000 after purchasing an additional 22,526 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Marathon Oil in the second quarter worth about $6,673,000. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in Marathon Oil by 25.3% in the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,839,607 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $52,134,000 after purchasing an additional 371,642 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP boosted its position in Marathon Oil by 14.6% in the third quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 270,215 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $7,196,000 after purchasing an additional 34,499 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Marathon Oil by 217.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 125,082 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,545,000 after purchasing an additional 85,649 shares during the last quarter. 77.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Marathon Oil

In related news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.84, for a total transaction of $1,040,950.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 104,735 shares in the company, valued at $3,020,557.40. The trade was a 25.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $1,033,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 76,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,090,489.88. This represents a 33.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 382,693 shares of company stock worth $10,964,251. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on MRO. Susquehanna dropped their target price on Marathon Oil from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Marathon Oil from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Marathon Oil from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Marathon Oil from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Marathon Oil from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.94.

Marathon Oil Price Performance

Shares of Marathon Oil stock opened at $28.92 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $16.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.41 and a beta of 2.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.69. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $27.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.61. Marathon Oil Co. has a one year low of $21.81 and a one year high of $30.06.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 12.80% and a net margin of 19.73%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.77 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.88%.

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.