Swiss National Bank Decreases Stock Position in Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

Key Points

• Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in Murphy Oil Corporation by 4.8%, owning approximately 268,400 shares worth $7.6 million after selling 13,500 shares.
• Murphy Oil reported a 13.4% decline in year-over-year revenue for the last quarter, despite exceeding earnings expectations with $0.27 EPS against the consensus of $0.21.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.325 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 5.7%, with a payout ratio of 67.36%.

Swiss National Bank reduced its position in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 4.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 268,400 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 13,500 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.19% of Murphy Oil worth $7,623,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in Murphy Oil in the first quarter worth $26,000. GeoWealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Murphy Oil in the first quarter worth $44,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Murphy Oil by 1,710.9% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,666 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 1,574 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Murphy Oil by 177.8% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,725 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 1,104 shares during the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MUR. Roth Capital downgraded Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $27.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Mizuho cut Murphy Oil from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Johnson Rice cut Murphy Oil from an "accumulate" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company set a $24.00 price target on Murphy Oil and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $29.69.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

NYSE:MUR traded up $0.2120 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $22.3420. 707,311 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,888,778. The firm has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 1.13. Murphy Oil Corporation has a 52 week low of $18.94 and a 52 week high of $39.46. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $24.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $695.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $632.51 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 5.25% and a net margin of 10.20%.The firm's quarterly revenue was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.8%. Murphy Oil's payout ratio is currently 67.36%.

Murphy Oil 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.