LSV Asset Management Boosts Stock Position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 330,864 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after buying an additional 27,100 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management owned about 0.21% of Murphy Oil worth $14,115,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,816,692 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $762,637,000 after buying an additional 137,059 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,566,887 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $116,408,000 after purchasing an additional 121,795 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 3,904.6% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,090,904 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $89,198,000 after purchasing an additional 2,038,692 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,946,095 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $88,255,000 after purchasing an additional 99,427 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,732,172 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $78,554,000 after purchasing an additional 442,579 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MUR. Truist Financial upped their target price on Murphy Oil from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Scotiabank lowered Murphy Oil from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and upped their price target for the company from $46.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Murphy Oil from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Murphy Oil from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Murphy Oil news, VP Louis W. Utsch sold 30,260 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total value of $1,208,584.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 9,504 shares in the company, valued at $379,589.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Murphy Oil news, VP Louis W. Utsch sold 30,260 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total value of $1,208,584.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 9,504 shares in the company, valued at $379,589.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Roger W. Jenkins sold 110,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.39, for a total value of $4,442,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,035,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,811,324.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 156,260 shares of company stock worth $6,322,644. Corporate insiders own 5.95% of the company's stock.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Murphy Oil stock traded up $0.27 on Tuesday, hitting $44.75. 1,427,564 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,789,613. Murphy Oil Co. has a one year low of $32.80 and a one year high of $49.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The company has a fifty day moving average of $44.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.59. The company has a market capitalization of $6.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.39 and a beta of 2.22.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $794.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.94 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 16.40%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Murphy Oil Co. will post 4.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. Murphy Oil's payout ratio is currently 33.43%.

About Murphy Oil

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.