South Street Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

South Street Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 58.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 212,101 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 303,420 shares during the period. South Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $5,648,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Marathon Oil by 9.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,751,369 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,146,794,000 after purchasing an additional 6,835,604 shares in the last quarter. 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 worth $383,313,000 after buying an additional 1,552,210 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Marathon Oil by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,461,323 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $242,582,000 after purchasing an additional 328,184 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $184,741,000 after purchasing an additional 593,100 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Marathon Oil by 1.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 27,495 shares in the last quarter. 77.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Marathon Oil

In related news, VP Michael A. Henderson sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 76,828 shares in the company, valued at $2,090,489.88. The trade was a 33.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Dane E. Whitehead sold 52,008 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.50, for a total value of $1,430,220.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,750,000. This trade represents a 34.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research 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 report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays decreased their price target on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Marathon Oil from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.12.

Marathon Oil Price Performance

MRO stock traded down $0.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $28.59. 5,087,537 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,697,123. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $27.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.56. Marathon Oil Co. has a 52-week low of $21.81 and a 52-week high of $30.06. The company has a market capitalization of $15.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.27 and a beta of 2.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.01. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 12.80% and a net margin of 19.73%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 18.88%.

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.