Marathon Oil: 3 Huge Reasons To Buy Now

Marathon Oil (MRO) is an oil and gas exploration and production company. Marathon’s headquarters in Houston. Texas. The company has a market cap of $21.4 billion and a stock price of around $30.

Marathon’s stock price is currently towards the top of its 52 week price range. A big reason for that is because the stock got a boost when Ben Bernanke announced that the Federal Reserve would be initiating a third quantitative easing program (QE3). In the month leading up to QE3, Marathon’s stock price moved higher by 6%. In the two days following the QE3 announcement, Marathons stock price rose 7%. Historically, QEs push investors away from dollar based investments and towards hard assets or commodity investments. After the 2010 QE2, oil prices moved higher by $40. Another reason that Marathon’s stock price has increased is because the price of oil has increased. Crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange have risen from $79.76 per barrel on the week ending on June 22nd to $99.00 per barrel for the week ending on September 14th.

I believe that it is a positive that Marathon’s stock price is well above its 52 week midway point in the third week of September. I believe that it is a positive because it seems to me that oil companies’ stock prices are often near their 52 week low points in the fall of the year. In the current 52 week cycle, Marathon hit a low point of $19.13 on October 4, 2011. To continue reading, click here.