Short Interest in Marathon Oil Stock Remains at Lower Levels

As of August 14, 2017, Marathon Oil’s (MRO) total shares shorted (or short interest) stood at ~36.65 million, while its average daily volume is ~15.94 million. The short interest ratio for Marathon Oil stock is ~2.30x. Marathon Oil’s average daily volume is calculated for the short interest reporting period on August 1–14, 2017.

• Marathon Oil stock’s short interest ratio has a 52-week high of 5.00x and a 52-week low of 1.81x.
• Marathon Oil stock’s short interest as a percentage of its 20-day average volume, 90-day average volume, and 180-day average volume is 2.44x, 2.48x, and 2.69x, respectively.
• From the perspective of shares outstanding, the current short interest in Marathon Oil stock as a percentage of shares outstanding is ~4.3%.
• The short interest in Marathon Oil’s stock as a percentage of shares outstanding is at the lower side compared to many other oil and gas stocks from the SPDR S&P Oil and Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP).
• As you can see in the above chart, the short interest in Marathon Oil stock as a percentage of shares outstanding has fallen from ~5.3% to ~4.3% in 2017, despite an ~33% fall in Marathon Oil’s stock price during the same period. To learn more about the recent price performance, read Part 1 in this series.

As of August 14, 2017, oil and gas exploration and production companies California Resources (CRC), W&T Offshore (WTI), and Southwestern Energy (SWN) have short interest as a percentage of shares outstanding of ~38.3%, ~5.3%, and ~8.3%, respectively. Just like Marathon Oil, W&T Offshore and Southwestern Energy saw a decrease in their short interest in the past month. The Direxion Daily Energy Bull 3X ETF (ERX) is a leveraged ETF that invests in domestic companies from the energy sector.

In the next part, we’ll look at Wall Street analysts’ recent ratings for Marathon Oil stock.