Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Shares Sold by Marshall Wace LLP

Marshall Wace LLP trimmed its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 10.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 971,052 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 114,749 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $40,046,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in Murphy Oil by 1,015.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 569 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the first quarter valued at $30,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 47.7% during the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 721 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its stake in Murphy Oil by 1,434.5% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,289 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 2,105 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 447 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on MUR. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $59.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group cut their price target on Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.00.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Murphy Oil stock opened at $34.41 on Thursday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52 week low of $33.15 and a 52 week high of $49.14. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $37.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market cap of $5.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.58 and a beta of 2.21.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $802.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $813.97 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.49%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is 33.43%.

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.