10,510 Shares in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) Bought by Callan Capital LLC

Callan Capital LLC bought a new position in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 10,510 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $298,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRO. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in 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. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Marathon Oil by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,797,521 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $315,584,000 after acquiring an additional 2,176,062 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Marathon Oil by 127.3% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,527,604 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $61,067,000 after acquiring an additional 1,415,639 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,186,365 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $197,801,000 after buying an additional 556,566 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 49.7% during the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,467,965 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $35,466,000 after buying an additional 487,514 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on MRO. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Marathon Oil from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $29.00 price objective (down previously from $38.00) on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Marathon Oil from $39.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Marathon Oil from $26.50 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.86.

Marathon Oil Price Performance

MRO stock traded up $0.27 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $28.16. The stock had a trading volume of 5,049,587 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,630,686. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Marathon Oil Co. has a twelve month low of $21.81 and a twelve month high of $30.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.64 and a beta of 2.19. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $27.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.00.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 13.24% and a net margin of 21.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.18%.

Marathon Oil 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.