Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 35,826 Shares of Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Murphy Oil Corporation by 0.5%, acquiring an additional 35,826 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 5.59% of the company, valued at $226.4 million.
• Multiple analysts have revised their price targets for Murphy Oil, with Morgan Stanley lowering its target from $27.00 to $26.00, while Piper Sandler raised theirs from $30.00 to $32.00, reflecting differing perspectives on the company's future performance.
• Murphy Oil recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.325 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 5.9%, with the ex-dividend date set for August 18th.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 0.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,974,008 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after buying an additional 35,826 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 5.59% of Murphy Oil worth $226,461,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 210.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,805,565 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $50,079,000 after purchasing an additional 1,742,914 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings 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 worth $103,178,000 after purchasing an additional 825,746 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Murphy Oil by 61.9% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,147,590 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $64,986,000 after buying an additional 821,427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Murphy Oil in the first quarter valued at approximately $16,189,000. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on MUR. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Murphy Oil from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Johnson Rice cut shares of Murphy Oil from an "accumulate" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Roth Capital cut shares of Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $27.00 to $25.00 in a report on Thursday, May 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $29.69.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MUR traded up $1.5140 on Friday, reaching $24.1240. 1,590,940 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,886,543. Murphy Oil Corporation has a twelve month low of $18.94 and a twelve month high of $39.46. The company has a fifty day moving average of $24.30 and a 200-day moving average of $24.09. The company has a market capitalization of $3.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.49 and a beta of 1.13. 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 (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $695.57 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $632.51 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 5.25% and a net margin of 10.20%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.81 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.325 per share. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Murphy Oil's dividend payout ratio is 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.