Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Position in Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its position in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,535,061 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 177,024 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.18% of Murphy Oil worth $412,941,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MUR. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 255.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 508,012 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $14,433,000 after purchasing an additional 365,011 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 60.0% during the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,119,622 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $60,218,000 after purchasing an additional 794,510 shares in the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the third quarter valued at $920,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 7.0% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,766,534 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $107,247,000 after buying an additional 312,904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 512.1% in the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 69,948 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,987,000 after buying an additional 58,521 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MUR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $29.42.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of MUR stock opened at $31.90 on Friday. Murphy Oil Corporation has a 12 month low of $18.94 and a 12 month high of $35.19. The stock has a market cap of $4.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.31 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.48.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.21. The business had revenue of $613.08 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $650.90 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 3.83% and a return on equity of 3.75%. The company’s revenue was down 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This is a boost from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 194.44%.

Murphy Oil Profile

Murphy Oil Corporation is an independent upstream oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company’s operations encompass conventional onshore and offshore reservoirs, with an emphasis on liquids-rich properties and deepwater assets. Through a combination of proprietary technologies and strategic joint ventures, Murphy Oil seeks to optimize recovery rates and manage its portfolio to balance long-term resource development with operational flexibility.

Murphy Oil’s exploration and production activities are geographically diversified.