Wellington Management Group LLP Trims Stock Position in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

Wellington Management Group LLP lessened its stake in shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 91.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 138,468 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 1,490,664 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $3,687,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,267,506 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $140,274,000 after buying an additional 19,566 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 6.3% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 10.2% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Oil during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,673,000. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 70.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 68,864 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,834,000 after buying an additional 28,350 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MRO. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research 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 for the company in a research report on Monday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.94.

Insider Transactions at Marathon Oil

In related news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.84, for a total value of $1,040,950.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 104,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,020,557.40. This represents a 25.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 596,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,335,313.10. The trade was a 30.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Oil Stock Performance

NYSE:MRO opened at $28.55 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Marathon Oil Co. has a fifty-two week low of $21.81 and a fifty-two week high of $30.06. The stock has a market cap of $15.97 billion, a PE ratio of 12.25 and a beta of 2.16. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.87.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.01. Marathon Oil had a net margin of 19.73% and a return on equity of 12.80%. 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 prior year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.