Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Position Cut by GAMMA Investing LLC

GAMMA Investing LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,848 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 556 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $130,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUR. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 90.5% in the second 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 during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 92.1% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 687,254 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $28,342,000 after acquiring an additional 329,521 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings 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 in the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 83.3% in the second quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 545,926 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $22,514,000 after purchasing an additional 248,134 shares during the period. Finally, F M Investments LLC bought a new position in Murphy Oil during the 2nd quarter valued at $10,182,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MUR. StockNews.com lowered Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $59.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.58.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

MUR opened at $35.91 on Friday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12-month low of $32.53 and a 12-month high of $49.14. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $5.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.00 and a beta of 2.20. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $35.91 and a 200-day moving average of $40.40.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $802.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $813.97 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 11.68% and a net margin of 17.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.