Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) Shares Sold by Freedom Investment Management Inc.

Freedom Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 3.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 94,132 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 3,387 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $2,507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 0.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,267,506 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $140,274,000 after acquiring an additional 19,566 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 10.2% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,727,190 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $392,185,000 after buying an additional 1,357,369 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank raised its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 15.0% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 172,258 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $4,882,000 after buying an additional 22,526 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 6.3% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,884,151 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $76,805,000 after buying an additional 171,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Marathon Oil during the second quarter worth about $6,673,000. 77.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MRO. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Marathon Oil from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays dropped their target price 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. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marathon Oil currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.94.

Insider Transactions at Marathon Oil

In other news, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 256,591 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.07, for a total transaction of $7,459,100.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 596,330 shares in the company, valued at $17,335,313.10. This represents a 30.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.84, for a total transaction of $1,040,950.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 104,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,020,557.40. The trade was a 25.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 382,693 shares of company stock valued at $10,964,251 over the last three months. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Marathon Oil Stock Performance

Shares of MRO opened at $28.55 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $27.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.67. Marathon Oil Co. has a twelve month low of $21.81 and a twelve month high of $30.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.25 and a beta of 2.16.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 12.80% and a net margin of 19.73%. Marathon Oil’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Marathon Oil’s payout ratio is currently 18.88%.

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.