Marathon Oil Corporation operates as an independent exploration and production company in the United States and internationally. The company engages in the exploration, production, and marketing of crude oil and condensate, natural gas liquids, and natural gas; and the production and marketing of products manufactured from natural gas, such as liquefied natural gas and methanol. It also owns and operates 32 central gathering and treating facilities; and the Sugarloaf gathering system, a 42-mile natural gas pipeline through Karnes and Atascosa Counties. The company was formerly known as USX Corporation and changed its name to Marathon Oil Corporation in December 2001. Marathon Oil Corporation was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
Marathon Oil Price Performance
MRO traded up $0.30 on Friday, reaching $21.77. 13,563,903 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,068,906. The stock has a market cap of $15.41 billion, a PE ratio of 5.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 2.53. Marathon Oil has a twelve month low of $10.41 and a twelve month high of $33.24. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $24.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.06.
Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO - Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 42.46% and a return on equity of 23.61%. The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.21 earnings per share. Marathon Oil's quarterly revenue was up 63.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Marathon Oil will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.
Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 16th. Marathon Oil's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.58%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $29.00 to $25.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 5th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 19th. Susquehanna Bancshares raised shares of Marathon Oil from a "neutral" rating to a "positive" rating and set a $32.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, April 25th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 22nd. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $30.88.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Marathon Oil news, CFO Dane E. Whitehead sold 30,291 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.03, for a total transaction of $849,056.73. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 290,934 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,154,880.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Marathon Oil news, CFO Dane E. Whitehead sold 30,291 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.03, for a total transaction of $849,056.73. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 290,934 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,154,880.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Dane E. Whitehead sold 79,711 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.18, for a total transaction of $2,246,255.98. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 321,225 shares in the company, valued at $9,052,120.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.
