Piper Sandler Has Lowered Expectations for Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) Stock Price

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) had its price target lowered by investment analysts at Piper Sandler from $37.00 to $34.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 17.61% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho cut their target price on Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.94.

Marathon Oil Price Performance

MRO traded up $0.32 on Monday, reaching $28.91. 1,579,721 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,952,622. Marathon Oil has a twelve month low of $21.81 and a twelve month high of $30.06. The stock has a market cap of $16.17 billion, a PE ratio of 12.41 and a beta of 2.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $27.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.57.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.01. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 12.80% and a net margin of 19.73%. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.77 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Marathon Oil will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Michael A. Henderson sold 38,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president now owns 76,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,090,489.88. This trade represents a 33.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Dane E. Whitehead sold 52,008 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.50, for a total transaction of $1,430,220.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,750,000. This represents a 34.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Oil

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Marathon Oil by 50.8% during the first quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,392 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 4,511 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 15,654 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $444,000 after buying an additional 812 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 487.8% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 43,841 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,242,000 after buying an additional 36,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in Marathon Oil by 39.1% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 57,814 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,639,000 after acquiring an additional 16,249 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.