Marathon Oil (MRO) Raised to Neutral at J P Morgan Chase & Co

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) was upgraded by equities research analysts at J P Morgan Chase & Co from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $15.00 target price on the oil and gas producer’s stock. J P Morgan Chase & Co’s price target suggests a potential downside of 0.07% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Credit Suisse Group assumed coverage on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. BidaskClub cut shares of Marathon Oil from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 18th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $18.00 price target on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Tuesday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Saturday, September 16th. Finally, Jefferies Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $12.00 price target on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Friday, October 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.67.

Marathon Oil (MRO) traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $15.01. 16,559,169 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,355,971. The company has a quick ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Marathon Oil has a 52-week low of $10.55 and a 52-week high of $19.02.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 1st. The oil and gas producer reported ($0.08) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of ($0.14) by $0.06. Marathon Oil had a negative net margin of 148.07% and a negative return on equity of 3.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.23) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.5% on a year-over-year basis. research analysts forecast that Marathon Oil will post -0.34 EPS for the current year.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Marathon Oil by 112.6% in the second quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 53,832,125 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $637,911,000 after buying an additional 28,514,387 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in Marathon Oil in the third quarter valued at approximately $81,114,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Marathon Oil by 10.1% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 41,191,926 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $558,563,000 after buying an additional 3,767,268 shares during the period. AXA raised its holdings in Marathon Oil by 735.2% in the third quarter. AXA now owns 2,745,649 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $37,231,000 after buying an additional 2,416,889 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Marathon Oil by 2.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,677,815 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,027,132,000 after buying an additional 1,808,213 shares during the period. 80.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Marathon Oil Company Profile

Marathon Oil Corporation is an exploration and production (E&P) company. The Company operates through three segments: North America E&P, International E&P and Oil Sands Mining. The North America E&P segment explores for, produces and markets crude oil and condensate, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and natural gas in North America.

Analyst Recommendations for Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO)