The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Makes New Investment in Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

Key Points

• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired 130,939 Murphy Oil shares worth approximately $4.26 million, giving it a 0.09% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 78.31% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but leans toward caution: Murphy Oil has a consensus “Hold” rating and a $37.58 price target, with recent downgrades from Jefferies, Wall Street Zen, and Barclays.
• Murphy Oil reported quarterly revenue of $926.33 million, up 33.5% year over year, but EPS of $1.55 narrowly missed estimates. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.35, representing a 3.8% annualized yield.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 130,939 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock, valued at approximately $4,263,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.09% of Murphy Oil at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC bought a new position in Murphy Oil during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the first quarter worth approximately $29,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 14,700.0% during the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 740 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 72.9% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,701 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 717 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Murphy Oil during the second quarter valued at approximately $54,000. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MUR has been the topic of several research reports. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $48.00 to $43.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to an "underperform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 27th. Finally, Barclays cut shares of Murphy Oil from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $38.00 to $34.00 in a report on Friday, August 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.58.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

MUR opened at $36.38 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.01 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.60 and a 200 day moving average of $36.76. Murphy Oil Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $24.49 and a fifty-two week high of $43.34.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by ($0.02). Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 6.63% and a net margin of 9.74%.The firm had revenue of $926.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $888.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. The business's revenue was up 33.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Murphy Oil's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.31%.

Murphy Oil Company 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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