Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) Declares $0.11 Quarterly Dividend

Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.11 per share by the oil and gas producer on Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%.

Marathon Oil has raised its dividend by an average of 72.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 3 years. Marathon Oil has a dividend payout ratio of 13.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Marathon Oil to earn $3.23 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.6%.

Marathon Oil Stock Performance

NYSE:MRO opened at $27.53 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Marathon Oil has a twelve month low of $21.63 and a twelve month high of $30.06. The stock has a market cap of $15.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 2.22. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.42.

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

Insider Transactions at Marathon Oil

In related news, CFO Dane E. Whitehead sold 73,233 shares of the 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 owns 152,008 shares in the company, valued at $4,113,336.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Dane E. Whitehead sold 73,233 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,113,336.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Patrick Wagner sold 36,094 shares of Marathon Oil stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.65, for a total value of $997,999.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 140,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,893,921.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 281,332 shares of company stock worth $7,644,903 over the last three months. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Marathon Oil from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective on shares of Marathon Oil in a report on Monday. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Marathon Oil in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Marathon Oil from $26.50 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Marathon Oil from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned 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 $32.66.

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.