Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) PT Raised to $26.00 at Morgan Stanley

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) had its price objective raised by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $24.00 to $26.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential downside of 8.26% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on MRO. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $32.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Benchmark increased their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Marathon Oil from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marathon Oil presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.68.

Marathon Oil Stock Performance

NYSE MRO opened at $28.34 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.40. The company has a market capitalization of $16.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.07 and a beta of 2.21. Marathon Oil has a 52-week low of $21.63 and a 52-week high of $29.56. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.12.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.66 billion. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 23.20% and a return on equity of 14.09%. Marathon Oil’s revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Marathon Oil will post 2.46 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 80,647 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.94, for a total transaction of $2,172,630.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 596,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,065,130.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Marathon Oil news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 39,969 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.89, for a total transaction of $1,074,766.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 176,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,757,459.47. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 80,647 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 596,330 shares in the company, valued at $16,065,130.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 281,332 shares of company stock valued at $7,644,903. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Oil

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRO. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in 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 worth $130,763,000 after buying an additional 5,015,428 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP bought a new stake in Marathon Oil during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $89,591,000. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 24.3% during 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 period. Institutional investors own 77.24% of the company’s stock.

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.