Cetera Advisors LLC Sells 2,568 Shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO)

Cetera Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) by 16.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 13,013 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 2,568 shares during the quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC’s holdings in Marathon Oil were worth $43,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRO. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in Marathon Oil by 20.2% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 55,398 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $752,000 after acquiring an additional 9,313 shares during the period. Strs Ohio increased its position in Marathon Oil by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 628,456 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $8,534,000 after acquiring an additional 10,606 shares during the period. CWM Advisors LLC increased its position in Marathon Oil by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. CWM Advisors LLC now owns 40,285 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $547,000 after acquiring an additional 5,433 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Marathon Oil by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,286,494 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $17,471,000 after acquiring an additional 31,495 shares during the period. Finally, Dupont Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in Marathon Oil by 35.0% in the 4th quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp now owns 37,195 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $505,000 after buying an additional 9,636 shares during the period. 81.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shares of NYSE MRO opened at $5.89 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.22. The company has a market cap of $4.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.41 and a beta of 3.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Marathon Oil Co. has a 12-month low of $3.02 and a 12-month high of $15.15.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The oil and gas producer reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.03). Marathon Oil had a return on equity of 1.90% and a net margin of 4.98%. The company had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.31 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Marathon Oil Co. will post -1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

MRO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Marathon Oil from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Marathon Oil from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Argus lowered shares of Marathon Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Credit Suisse Group boosted their price target on shares of Marathon Oil from $4.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-two have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.05.

In other Marathon Oil news, CEO Lee M. Tillman bought 27,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $4.00 per share, for a total transaction of $110,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,080,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,322,520. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Patrick Wagner bought 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 31st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $3.31 per share, for a total transaction of $49,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 223,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $739,169.34. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 99,100 shares of company stock worth $362,278. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Oil Profile

Marathon Oil Corporation operates as an energy company in the United States, Equatorial Guinea, the United Kingdom, and Libya. It operates in two segments, United States and International. The company engages in the exploration, production, and marketing of crude oil and condensate, natural gas liquids, and natural gas; and the production and marketing of products manufactured from natural gas, such as liquefied natural gas and methanol.

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