Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) Shares Bought by Epoch Investment Partners Inc.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 25.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,839,607 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 371,642 shares during the quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned about 0.33% of Marathon Oil worth $52,134,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JT Stratford LLC acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Oil in the 1st quarter valued at $250,000. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 323.9% during the 1st quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,369,127 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $38,801,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,122 shares in the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Oil during the 1st quarter valued at $611,000. Natixis lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 58,956 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,671,000 after acquiring an additional 6,659 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 231,530 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $6,563,000 after acquiring an additional 2,062 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.24% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Oil Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of MRO traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $27.87. The company had a trading volume of 4,426,487 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,573,268. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $27.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.36. The stock has a market cap of $15.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.52 and a beta of 2.19. Marathon Oil Co. has a 52 week low of $21.81 and a 52 week high of $30.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last released 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. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 21.83% and a return on equity of 13.24%. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.79 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on MRO. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Marathon Oil in a report on Friday. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $33.00 target price on shares of Marathon Oil in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Marathon Oil in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $35.00 target price on the stock. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marathon Oil has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.14.

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.