Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) Shares Bought by National Bank of Canada FI

National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 83.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 286,265 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 130,290 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned about 0.05% of Marathon Oil worth $7,623,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MRO. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Marathon Oil by 0.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,267,506 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $140,274,000 after acquiring an additional 19,566 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Marathon Oil by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,884,151 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $76,805,000 after purchasing an additional 171,450 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Marathon Oil by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,727,190 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $392,185,000 after buying an additional 1,357,369 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Marathon Oil in the 2nd quarter worth $6,673,000. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board boosted its position in Marathon Oil by 70.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 68,864 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,834,000 after buying an additional 28,350 shares during the last quarter. 77.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MRO. UBS Group dropped their target price on Marathon Oil from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Marathon Oil from $27.61 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Monday. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Marathon Oil news, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 256,591 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.07, for a total transaction of $7,459,100.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 596,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,335,313.10. The trade was a 30.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Dane E. Whitehead sold 52,008 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.50, for a total value of $1,430,220.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,750,000. The trade was a 34.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 344,693 shares of company stock worth $9,930,271. Insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Oil Price Performance

Shares of Marathon Oil stock opened at $28.55 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.25 and a beta of 2.16. Marathon Oil Co. has a twelve month low of $21.81 and a twelve month high of $30.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.84.

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

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Marathon Oil’s payout ratio 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.