Trueblood Wealth Management LLC Buys Shares of 9,120 Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

Trueblood Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 9,120 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Smithfield Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 367.9% in the 3rd quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 1,020 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Oil in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 92.6% in the 1st quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,086 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Oil in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Finally, KB Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Oil in the 1st quarter worth $31,000. 77.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Marathon Oil Stock Up 2.3 %

MRO opened at $28.34 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.11. Marathon Oil Co. has a 52 week low of $21.63 and a 52 week high of $29.56. The company has a market capitalization of $16.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.07 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 (NYSE:MRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.07. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 23.20% and a return on equity of 14.09%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.66 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. Marathon Oil’s payout ratio is 17.19%.

Insider Activity at Marathon Oil

In related news, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 80,647 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.94, for a total value of $2,172,630.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 596,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,065,130.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 80,647 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.94, for a total value of $2,172,630.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 596,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,065,130.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.65, for a total transaction of $997,999.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 140,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,893,921.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 281,332 shares of company stock valued at $7,644,903. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on MRO. Raymond James reduced their price objective on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $32.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Marathon Oil from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $33.00 target price on shares of Marathon Oil in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Five 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, Marathon Oil presently has a consensus 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.