10,241 Shares in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Purchased by MQS Management LLC

MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 10,241 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $422,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 90.5% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,092,374 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $45,050,000 after acquiring an additional 518,904 shares during the period. Invenomic Capital Management LP bought a new position in Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth $16,349,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 3.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,254,125 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $340,400,000 after purchasing an additional 262,256 shares during the period. F M Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the second quarter valued at $10,182,000. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 23.0% in the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,132,305 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $51,746,000 after purchasing an additional 212,100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on MUR. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. StockNews.com lowered Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Murphy Oil from $59.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.00.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

MUR opened at $36.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.82. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52-week low of $33.15 and a 52-week high of $49.14. The firm has a market cap of $5.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.03 and a beta of 2.21. The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.86 and its 200-day moving average is $41.30.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.08. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 17.32% and a return on equity of 11.68%. The firm had revenue of $802.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $813.97 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.43%.

Murphy Oil Company Profile

Murphy Oil Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an oil and gas exploration and production company in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It explores for and produces crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. The company was formerly known as Murphy Corporation and changed its name to Murphy Oil Corporation in 1964.