Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Acquires 207,547 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,861,968 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after acquiring an additional 207,547 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 5.09% of Murphy Oil worth $335,397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MUR. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,816,692 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $762,637,000 after purchasing an additional 137,059 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Murphy Oil by 3,904.6% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 2,038,692 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 5.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,946,095 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $88,255,000 after acquiring an additional 99,427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,777,408 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $75,824,000 after acquiring an additional 45,236 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Murphy Oil from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Murphy Oil from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Roth Mkm reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Scotiabank cut Murphy Oil from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and raised their target price for the company from $46.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Murphy Oil presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $51.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Murphy Oil news, VP Paul D. Vaughan sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $237,660.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,877 shares in the company, valued at $470,447.97. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Murphy Oil news, VP Paul D. Vaughan sold 6,000 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $237,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,877 shares in the company, valued at $470,447.97. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Louis W. Utsch sold 30,260 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total transaction of $1,208,584.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 9,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $379,589.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 156,260 shares of company stock worth $6,322,644. Corporate insiders own 5.92% of the company's stock.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 0.7 %

MUR traded down $0.32 during trading on Monday, reaching $43.92. The company had a trading volume of 1,190,880 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,759,696. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.93. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12-month low of $33.08 and a 12-month high of $49.14. The company has a market cap of $6.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.25 and a beta of 2.22. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $44.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.55.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.03. The firm 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%. Murphy Oil's quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. Murphy Oil's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.43%.

Murphy Oil Company 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.