First Eagle Investment Management LLC Sells 53,500 Shares of Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

Key Points

• First Eagle Investment Management cut its Murphy Oil stake by 16.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 53,500 shares and leaving it with 269,000 shares valued at about $8.4 million.
• Insider selling also stood out, with SVP Daniel R. Hanchera selling 47,320 shares for roughly $1.6 million, reducing his ownership by 56.68%.
• Murphy Oil beat quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting EPS of $0.32 versus the $0.29 estimate and revenue of $732.35 million, while analysts mostly remain neutral with a consensus Hold rating and average price target of $34.55.

First Eagle Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 16.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 269,000 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 53,500 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.19% of Murphy Oil worth $8,406,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MUR. Impact Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Impact Capital Partners LLC now owns 15,143 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $473,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,893 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $434,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 67.3% during the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,094 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 11,767 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 453 shares during the period. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 42,414 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $1,325,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Murphy Oil

In other news, SVP Daniel R. Hanchera sold 47,320 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.79, for a total value of $1,598,942.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 36,166 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,222,049.14. This represents a 56.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 5.79% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their price target on Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen raised Murphy Oil from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Piper Sandler raised Murphy Oil from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $34.55.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of MUR stock opened at $38.67 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.55 and a beta of 0.55. The business's fifty day moving average is $38.31 and its 200 day moving average is $33.76. Murphy Oil Corporation has a twelve month low of $20.31 and a twelve month high of $43.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.03. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 3.09% and a net margin of 3.02%.The company had revenue of $732.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $702.96 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 3.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 18th. Murphy Oil's dividend payout ratio is currently 237.29%.

Murphy Oil Profile

Murphy Oil Corporation is an independent upstream oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company's operations encompass conventional onshore and offshore reservoirs, with an emphasis on liquids-rich properties and deepwater assets. Through a combination of proprietary technologies and strategic joint ventures, Murphy Oil seeks to optimize recovery rates and manage its portfolio to balance long-term resource development with operational flexibility.

Murphy Oil's exploration and production activities are geographically diversified.

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