HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 77.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 124,358 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 421,568 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC owned 0.09% of Murphy Oil worth $4,196,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MUR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Murphy Oil by 3.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,254,125 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $340,400,000 after purchasing an additional 262,256 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Murphy Oil by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 2,627,701 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $88,659,000 after buying an additional 58,220 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 5.3% in the 2nd 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. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 3,191.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,627,268 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $54,904,000 after acquiring an additional 1,577,831 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 518,904 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MUR shares. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $55.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Murphy Oil from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on 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. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $40.92.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Murphy Oil stock traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $32.32. 1,078,347 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,647,879. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a PE ratio of 10.43 and a beta of 2.18. Murphy Oil Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.99 and a fifty-two week high of $49.14. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.71.

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

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. Murphy Oil's dividend payout ratio is currently 38.71%.

Murphy Oil 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.