Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) Shares Bought by Alpine Associates Management Inc.

Alpine Associates Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 546,572 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,772 shares during the quarter. Alpine Associates Management Inc.’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $14,555,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 13.1% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,369,821 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $383,313,000 after purchasing an additional 1,552,210 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,461,323 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $242,582,000 after acquiring an additional 328,184 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,443,713 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $184,741,000 after acquiring an additional 593,100 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,786,956 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $79,902,000 after acquiring an additional 27,495 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Oil during the 2nd quarter worth about $64,061,000. 77.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MRO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $27.61 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Oil presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.94.

Marathon Oil Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MRO opened at $28.75 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Marathon Oil Co. has a 52-week low of $21.81 and a 52-week high of $30.06. The company has a 50 day moving average of $27.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.59. The company has a market capitalization of $16.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.34 and a beta of 2.16.

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

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Marathon Oil’s payout ratio is currently 18.88%.

Insider Transactions at Marathon Oil

In other Marathon Oil news, VP Michael A. Henderson sold 38,000 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.21, for a total value of $1,033,980.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 76,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,090,489.88. The trade was a 33.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 256,591 shares of Marathon Oil 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 directly owns 596,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,335,313.10. This represents a 30.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 346,599 shares of company stock valued at $9,923,300. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.