Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 365,988 Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 365,988 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock, valued at approximately $10,394,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned 0.26% of Murphy Oil as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 210.8% in the 1st 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 grew its position in Murphy Oil by 72.9% in the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 2,029,685 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Murphy Oil by 8,530.7% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,763,345 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $50,079,000 after purchasing an additional 1,742,914 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 111.6% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,157,707 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $61,279,000 after acquiring an additional 1,137,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 29.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 825,746 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MUR shares. Johnson Rice downgraded shares of Murphy Oil from an "accumulate" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Roth Capital lowered shares of Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced 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 target price on shares of Murphy Oil and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Mizuho downgraded shares of Murphy Oil from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $29.69.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 4.6%

Shares of Murphy Oil stock traded up $1.16 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $26.07. 2,560,432 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,104,291. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Murphy Oil Corporation has a 1-year low of $18.94 and a 1-year high of $36.63. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $24.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a PE ratio of 13.51 and a beta of 1.15.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $695.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $632.51 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 10.20% and a return on equity of 5.25%. The business's revenue was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Murphy Oil's dividend payout ratio is presently 67.36%.

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.