Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE:MRO) was downgraded by research analysts at Atlantic Securities from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, The Fly reports. They currently have a $10.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $23.00. Atlantic Securities’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 2.77% from the stock’s current price.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) traded up 6.11% on Wednesday, hitting $9.73. 20,630,814 shares of the stock traded hands. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $11.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.45. The stock’s market cap is $6.59 billion. Marathon Oil has a 12-month low of $7.08 and a 12-month high of $31.53.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of ($0.40) by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.38 billion. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 55.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Marathon Oil will post ($1.28) EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 17th will be paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 12th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%.

Other hedge funds and institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Marathon Oil by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,290,541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,248,000 after buying an additional 20,388 shares in the last quarter. Hermes Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in Marathon Oil by 55.8% in the fourth quarter. Hermes Investment Management Ltd. now owns 929,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,697,000 after buying an additional 332,614 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its position in Marathon Oil by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 895,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,272,000 after buying an additional 17,770 shares in the last quarter. Nationwide Fund Advisors raised its position in Marathon Oil by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. Nationwide Fund Advisors now owns 677,818 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,534,000 after buying an additional 173,212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in Marathon Oil by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 316,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,029,000 after buying an additional 10,941 shares in the last quarter.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $17.00 price objective on shares of Marathon Oil in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Vetr raised shares of Marathon Oil from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $20.78 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “in-line” rating on shares of Marathon Oil in a research note on Wednesday, January 13th. Tudor Pickering cut shares of Marathon Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $35.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, November 6th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Marathon Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.39.

Marathon Oil Corporation is an energy company based in Houston, Texas, with operations in North America, Europe and Africa. The Company operates in three segments: North America E&P segment, which explores for, produces and markets crude oil and condensate, NGLs and natural gas in North America; International E&P segment, which explores for, produces and markets crude oil and condensate, NGLs and natural gas outside of North America and produces and markets products manufactured from natural gas, such as LNG and methanol, in Egypt and Oil Sands Mining segment, which mines, extracts and transports bitumen from oil sands deposits in Alberta, Canada, and upgrades the bitumen to produce and market synthetic crude oil and vacuum gas oil. It has production operations in the United States, Egypt, Canada, the United Kingdom and Libya. The focus of its the United States operations is its three core unconventional resource plays, including the Eagle Ford, Bakken and Oklahoma Resource Basins.

12 Month Chart for NYSE:MRO

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