Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.03 EPS

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.03, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 14.09% and a net margin of 23.20%. Marathon Oil’s revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.67 earnings per share.

Marathon Oil Trading Up 0.2 %

Marathon Oil stock traded up $0.05 during trading on Thursday, hitting $26.15. The company had a trading volume of 9,699,591 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,703,450. The stock has a market cap of $14.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.27 and a beta of 2.22. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.44. Marathon Oil has a 1-year low of $21.63 and a 1-year high of $30.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Marathon Oil news, CFO Dane E. Whitehead sold 73,233 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.06, for a total value of $1,981,684.98. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 152,008 shares in the company, valued at $4,113,336.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Patrick Wagner sold 39,969 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.89, for a total transaction of $1,074,766.41. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 176,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,757,459.47. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Dane E. Whitehead sold 73,233 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.06, for a total transaction of $1,981,684.98. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 152,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,113,336.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 281,332 shares of company stock worth $7,644,903 in the last ninety days. 0.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on MRO. Argus raised Marathon Oil from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $33.00 target price on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.66.

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.