Alaska Permanent Fund Corp Has $2.43 Million Stock Position in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp grew its position in Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 100,376 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,376 shares during the quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $2,425,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Oil by 51.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 27,988,152 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $748,683,000 after purchasing an additional 9,504,754 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Marathon Oil by 22.6% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,797,521 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $315,584,000 after purchasing an additional 2,176,062 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Oil by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,485,704 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $173,493,000 after acquiring an additional 550,473 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its position in Marathon Oil by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,692,600 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $125,527,000 after purchasing an additional 150,440 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Marathon Oil by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,369,658 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $57,251,000 after acquiring an additional 280,971 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.24% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Oil Price Performance

Shares of MRO traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $27.52. 626,692 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,691,737. Marathon Oil Co. has a one year low of $21.63 and a one year high of $30.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The company has a market capitalization of $15.73 billion, a PE ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 2.22. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.42.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.07. Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 14.09% and a net margin of 23.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.66 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Marathon Oil Co. will post 2.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. Marathon Oil’s dividend payout ratio is 17.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MRO shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Marathon Oil from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $32.00 price target on shares of Marathon Oil in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Marathon Oil presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.66.

Insider Activity at Marathon Oil

In related news, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 80,647 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.94, for a total transaction of $2,172,630.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 596,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,065,130.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Marathon Oil news, CEO Lee M. Tillman sold 80,647 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.94, for a total transaction of $2,172,630.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 596,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,065,130.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Patrick Wagner sold 39,969 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.89, for a total value of $1,074,766.41. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 176,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,757,459.47. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 281,332 shares of company stock worth $7,644,903 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

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.