Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO – Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, The Fly reports. The firm issued an overweight rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on MRO. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Marathon Oil from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 5th. Mizuho reiterated a neutral rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Wednesday, October 19th. They issued a hold rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Thursday, January 5th. They set an outperform rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marathon Oil presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $33.44.

Marathon Oil Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MRO opened at $27.85 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $28.01 and a 200 day moving average of $26.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 2.43. Marathon Oil has a 12-month low of $17.84 and a 12-month high of $33.42.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 2nd. The oil and gas producer reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 46.11% and a return on equity of 27.76%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Marathon Oil will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Dane E. Whitehead sold 172,230 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.86, for a total value of $5,487,247.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 205,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,559,018.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Rob L. White sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.31, for a total value of $64,620.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 41,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,336,890.87. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Dane E. Whitehead sold 172,230 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.86, for a total transaction of $5,487,247.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,559,018.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 419,601 shares of company stock valued at $13,493,768. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRO. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Marathon Oil by 1,220.4% in the 1st 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 period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Marathon Oil by 60.1% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,739,802 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $194,346,000 after buying an additional 2,904,140 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in Marathon Oil by 3,527.3% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,735,575 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $68,690,000 after buying an additional 2,660,158 shares during the period. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Marathon Oil by 173.0% in the 2nd quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,794,020 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $85,290,000 after buying an additional 2,404,020 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Marathon Oil by 521.5% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,861,046 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $64,316,000 after buying an additional 2,400,700 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.30% of the company’s stock.

About Marathon Oil

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Marathon Oil Corporation operates as an independent exploration and production company in the United States and internationally. The company engages in the exploration, production, and marketing of crude oil and condensate, natural gas liquids, and natural gas; and the production and marketing of products manufactured from natural gas, such as liquefied natural gas and methanol.