Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) Downgraded by Scotiabank

Scotiabank lowered shares of Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) from a sector outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $29.00 price target on the oil and gas producer’s stock, down from their prior price target of $45.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Benchmark reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $32.00 price target on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an overweight rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $39.00 to $36.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a positive rating and set a $33.00 price target on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $31.97.

Marathon Oil Stock Performance

NYSE:MRO opened at $28.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $27.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.11. The stock has a market cap of $16.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.88 and a beta of 2.19. Marathon Oil has a 1-year low of $21.81 and a 1-year high of $30.06.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 21.83% and a return on equity of 13.24%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Marathon Oil will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Marathon Oil’s payout ratio is currently 18.18%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marathon Oil

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 9.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,751,369 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,146,794,000 after purchasing an additional 6,835,604 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 19,388,560 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $468,428,000 after purchasing an additional 3,795,020 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 7.3% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 556,566 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 16.4% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 5,850,613 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $165,806,000 after acquiring an additional 825,813 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,136,561 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $124,099,000 after acquiring an additional 18,125 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.