Creative Planning Boosts Stock Position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Creative Planning increased its stake in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 15.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 36,892 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,068 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $1,521,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MUR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 3.3% in the 2nd 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. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 7.7% in the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,737,409 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $125,100,000 after acquiring an additional 195,906 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 5.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,138,985 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $88,212,000 after acquiring an additional 107,462 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 23.0% during the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,132,305 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $51,746,000 after acquiring an additional 212,100 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 90.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 518,904 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of Murphy Oil stock opened at $34.78 on Wednesday. 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 $32.53 and a 52-week high of $49.14. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $36.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.69 and a beta of 2.20.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $802.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $813.97 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 17.32% and a return on equity of 11.68%. The company’s revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.45%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.43%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MUR shares. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $55.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $46.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on Murphy Oil from $59.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $42.38.

About Murphy Oil

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.