Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 75,224 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans reduced its position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 56.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 58,965 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 75,224 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $1,989,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 21.2% in the 2nd quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 218,739 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $9,021,000 after purchasing an additional 38,334 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 24.2% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 166,316 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $6,859,000 after acquiring an additional 32,411 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the 1st quarter worth $1,700,000. AXA S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 86.5% during the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 132,710 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,473,000 after purchasing an additional 61,537 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc bought a new stake in Murphy Oil during the first quarter valued at about $1,859,000. 78.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MUR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 18th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.92.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

MUR opened at $32.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12-month low of $30.99 and a 12-month high of $49.14. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $33.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.74 billion, a PE ratio of 10.49 and a beta of 2.21.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $758.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $759.74 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 9.22% and a net margin of 14.78%. Murphy Oil’s revenue for the quarter was down 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.59 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.71%.

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.