GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Takes Position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 43,069 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock, valued at approximately $1,303,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MUR. Huntington National Bank increased its stake in Murphy Oil by 342.8% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 828 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 641 shares during the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in Murphy Oil by 60.5% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,441 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 543 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its stake in Murphy Oil by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,903 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 471 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Murphy Oil by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,284 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Roth Capital downgraded shares of 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. Mizuho cut shares of Murphy Oil from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $29.23.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of MUR traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $21.28. The stock had a trading volume of 1,917,053 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,211,906. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.91 and a beta of 1.10. The business's fifty day moving average is $22.52 and its 200 day moving average is $27.05. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52-week low of $18.95 and a 52-week high of $43.02.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.08. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.66%. The firm had revenue of $665.71 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $684.89 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.11%. Murphy Oil's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.00%.

Murphy Oil Company 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.