Vanguard Group Inc. Lowers Holdings in Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Murphy Oil Corporation by 5.4% during the first quarter, now holding approximately $453.58 million in shares.
• Murphy Oil reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.27, surpassing estimates, but revenue declined 13.4% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.325 per share, representing an annualized yield of 5.7%.

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 5.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,971,112 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 918,756 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 11.19% of Murphy Oil worth $453,580,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the first quarter worth $26,000. GeoWealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Murphy Oil in the first quarter valued at approximately $44,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake 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 valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 1,104 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 246.6% during the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,747 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 1,243 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:MUR traded down $0.1880 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $22.1920. The company had a trading volume of 789,748 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,897,245. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.14. Murphy Oil Corporation has a one year low of $18.94 and a one year high of $39.46. The stock has a market cap of $3.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.50 and a beta of 1.13.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.06. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 5.25% and a net margin of 10.20%.The company had revenue of $695.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $632.51 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. Murphy Oil's quarterly revenue was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current 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. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Murphy Oil's payout ratio is 67.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Murphy Oil from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Roth Capital cut Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $27.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Johnson Rice cut Murphy Oil from an "accumulate" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Murphy Oil from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $29.69.

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.