Virtu Financial LLC Acquires Shares of 25,156 Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR)

Key Points

• Virtu Financial LLC has acquired 25,156 shares of Murphy Oil Corporation, valued at approximately $714,000, during the 1st quarter of the year.
• Murphy Oil recently reported earnings of $0.27 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, but showed a 13.4% year-over-year decline in revenue.
• The firm will distribute a quarterly dividend of $0.325 per share on September 2nd, representing a 5.6% dividend yield based on an annual payout ratio of 67.36%.

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 25,156 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock, valued at approximately $714,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 18.6% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,576 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 1,503 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 146.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,106 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 1,846 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 14.2% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 214,258 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $6,085,000 after acquiring an additional 26,563 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 7,070.1% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 113,144 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $3,210,000 after acquiring an additional 111,566 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 350.0% during the first quarter. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC now owns 450,000 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $12,780,000 after acquiring an additional 350,000 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of MUR stock opened at $23.17 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The business has a 50 day moving average of $24.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.32. Murphy Oil Corporation has a 52 week low of $18.94 and a 52 week high of $39.46. The company has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.01 and a beta of 1.13.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $695.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $632.51 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 5.25% and a net margin of 10.20%. The business's revenue was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%. Murphy Oil's payout ratio is currently 67.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MUR. Morgan Stanley lowered 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. Mizuho downgraded Murphy Oil from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Roth Capital downgraded 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. KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $24.00 price target on Murphy Oil and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $29.46.

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.

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