Commerce Bank Reduces Holdings in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

Commerce Bank reduced its position in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 0.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 47,370 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 449 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $1,261,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Marathon Oil by 13.1% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,369,821 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $383,313,000 after purchasing an additional 1,552,210 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Marathon Oil by 4.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,461,323 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $242,582,000 after purchasing an additional 328,184 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in Marathon Oil by 10.1% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,443,713 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $184,741,000 after acquiring an additional 593,100 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Marathon Oil by 1.0% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,786,956 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $79,902,000 after buying an additional 27,495 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Oil during the second quarter worth approximately $64,061,000. 77.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays cut 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Marathon Oil from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Marathon Oil from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Oil currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.94.

Marathon Oil Stock Performance

Shares of MRO stock opened at $28.55 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.64. The company has a market capitalization of $15.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.25 and a beta of 2.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Marathon Oil Co. has a 1-year low of $21.81 and a 1-year high of $30.06.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Marathon Oil

In related news, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 256,591 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.07, for a total transaction of $7,459,100.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.84, for a total value of $1,040,950.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 104,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,020,557.40. This represents a 25.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 382,693 shares of company stock valued at $10,964,251 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Oil 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.