Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.11

Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.11 per share by the oil and gas producer on Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%.

Marathon Oil has raised its dividend by an average of 72.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive years. Marathon Oil has a payout ratio of 13.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Marathon Oil to earn $3.23 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.6%.

Marathon Oil Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE MRO opened at $27.53 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.35. Marathon Oil has a fifty-two week low of $21.63 and a fifty-two week high of $30.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 2.22.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.07. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 14.09% and a net margin of 23.20%. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.66 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Marathon Oil will post 2.84 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marathon Oil

In other news, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 80,647 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 596,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,065,130.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Marathon Oil news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 39,969 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.89, for a total value of $1,074,766.41. Following the sale, the insider now owns 176,923 shares in the company, valued at $4,757,459.47. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 80,647 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, 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. Insiders sold a total of 281,332 shares of company stock worth $7,644,903 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on MRO shares. Barclays began coverage on Marathon Oil in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $26.50 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $32.00 price objective on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marathon Oil has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.66.

About Marathon Oil

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.