Trexquant Investment LP Sells 112,086 Shares of Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

Key Points

• Trexquant Investment LP reduced its stake in Murphy Oil Corporation by 45%, holding 136,899 shares worth approximately $3.89 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Murphy Oil's recent quarterly earnings report revealed EPS of $0.27, exceeding analysts' estimates, with quarterly revenue of $695.57 million, although revenue was down 13.4% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.325, which represents a 5.2% annual yield, with the ex-dividend date set for August 18th.

Trexquant Investment LP reduced its position in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 45.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 136,899 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 112,086 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP owned about 0.10% of Murphy Oil worth $3,888,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MUR. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 210.8% during the first 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 acquiring an additional 3,805,565 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 72.9% in the first quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 4,812,267 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $136,668,000 after acquiring an additional 2,029,685 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 8,530.7% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,763,345 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $50,079,000 after acquiring an additional 1,742,914 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 29.4% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,633,023 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $103,178,000 after buying an additional 825,746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 61.9% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,147,590 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $64,986,000 after buying an additional 821,427 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MUR. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Murphy Oil from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Murphy Oil from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Johnson Rice lowered Murphy Oil from an "accumulate" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Roth Capital lowered 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. Finally, Mizuho lowered shares of 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $29.69.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Murphy Oil stock traded down $0.77 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $24.92. The stock had a trading volume of 1,577,484 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,844,725. The firm's fifty day moving average is $24.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.91. The company has a market capitalization of $3.56 billion, a PE ratio of 12.93 and a beta of 1.15. Murphy Oil Corporation has a 52-week low of $18.94 and a 52-week high of $36.63. 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 released 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 company 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 firm's quarterly revenue was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Murphy Oil's dividend 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.