UPDATE: Stifel Downgrades Marathon Oil Corporation to Hold, Removes PT on Lack of Meaningful Upside, Negative Outlook

In a report published Friday, Stifel analyst Amir Arif downgraded the rating on Marathon Oil Corporation MRO from Buy to Hold, and removed the $37.00 price target. In the report, Stifel noted, “We are downgrading MRO from Buy to Hold given the lack of meaningful upside to our prior target price/fair value and expectations for lackluster 3Q results. Although MRO remains a value stock, we do not expect the valuation discount to narrow in the coming 6-12 months given that production will sequentially decline in 3Q13, key 2013 upside exploration wells already having been reported on, and our expectation for subpar 2014 production growth rate of 3-5%. As a result, MRO should remain a value name and we expect MRO to relatively underperform its peers and possibly underperform on an absolute basis if crude oil eases off further for the remainder of 2013 given its higher crude oil weighting.” Marathon Oil Corporation closed on Thursday at $35.28.