Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) in a research report released on Friday. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Marathon Oil in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an overweight rating and a $35.00 price objective on the stock. Benchmark restated a buy rating and issued a $32.00 price objective on shares of Marathon Oil in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank lowered shares of Marathon Oil from a sector outperform rating to a sector perform rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, July 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $32.14.

Marathon Oil Stock Performance

Marathon Oil stock opened at $27.45 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.42. Marathon Oil has a 1-year low of $21.81 and a 1-year high of $30.06. 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 stock has a market cap of $15.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.34 and a beta of 2.19.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Marathon Oil will post 2.79 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marathon Oil

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 9.9% in the 1st 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 buying an additional 6,835,604 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 24.3% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 3,795,020 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 127.3% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,527,604 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $61,067,000 after buying an additional 1,415,639 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 323.9% in 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 buying an additional 1,046,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 560.4% in the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,003,375 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $28,436,000 after buying an additional 851,443 shares during the last quarter. 77.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.