Easterly Investment Partners LLC Trims Stake in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC lessened its position in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 14.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 101,257 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 16,864 shares during the quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $2,696,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 9.9% during 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. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Marathon Oil during the 2nd quarter valued at $64,061,000. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Marathon Oil during the 2nd quarter valued at $63,556,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,552,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Slotnik Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Marathon Oil during the 2nd quarter valued at $40,779,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Marathon Oil

In related news, VP Michael A. Henderson sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.21, for a total transaction of $1,033,980.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 76,828 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,090,489.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Michael A. Henderson sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.21, for a total transaction of $1,033,980.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 76,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,090,489.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Dane E. Whitehead sold 52,008 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.50, for a total value of $1,430,220.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,750,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Marathon Oil Stock Performance

NYSE MRO traded down $0.17 on Friday, hitting $28.38. 751,780 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,024,380. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $27.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.52. The company has a market capitalization of $15.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.15 and a beta of 2.16. Marathon Oil Co. has a 52-week low of $21.81 and a 52-week high of $30.06.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.03. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 12.87% and a net margin of 19.73%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.88%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays lowered their price target 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. Citigroup reduced their target price on Marathon Oil from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Marathon Oil from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Marathon Oil from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Nine investment 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 MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.12.

Marathon Oil Company 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.