Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Sells 257,900 Shares of Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

Key Points

• The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board significantly reduced its stake in Murphy Oil Corporation by 77.2%, selling 257,900 shares and now owning about 0.05% of the company.
• Recent analysis from equities research firms shows a range of price target adjustments for Murphy Oil, with Piper Sandler raising the target from $30.00 to $32.00 and several firms giving mixed ratings including one Buy, eleven Hold, and two Sell ratings.
• Murphy Oil recently reported earnings of $0.27 per share, beating expectations, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.325 per share that offers a yield of 5.1%.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board trimmed its holdings in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 77.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 76,200 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 257,900 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned approximately 0.05% of Murphy Oil worth $2,164,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MUR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,974,008 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $226,461,000 after purchasing an additional 35,826 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 210.8% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,610,766 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $159,346,000 after buying an additional 3,805,565 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 72.9% in the first quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 4,812,267 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $136,668,000 after buying an additional 2,029,685 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 29.4% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,633,023 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $103,178,000 after acquiring an additional 825,746 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 3.6% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,052,273 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $86,685,000 after acquiring an additional 106,720 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of MUR stock traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $25.31. 3,557,427 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,855,239. The company has a market capitalization of $3.61 billion, a PE ratio of 13.11 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Murphy Oil Corporation has a 12-month low of $18.94 and a 12-month high of $36.63. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $24.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.82.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.06. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 10.20% and a return on equity of 5.25%. The business had revenue of $695.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $632.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.81 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 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 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were given a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.1%. Murphy Oil's dividend payout ratio is presently 67.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MUR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Murphy Oil from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Roth Capital downgraded Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $27.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $24.00 price objective on Murphy Oil and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $29.69.

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.