Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Sells 101,630 Shares of Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. cut its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,017,992 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 101,630 shares during the quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $63,062,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 255.3% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 508,012 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $14,433,000 after purchasing an additional 365,011 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 21.8% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,736,815 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $106,163,000 after buying an additional 668,525 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the 3rd quarter worth about $920,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 512.1% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 69,948 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,987,000 after buying an additional 58,521 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,766,534 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $107,247,000 after buying an additional 312,904 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Daniel R. Hanchera sold 47,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.79, for a total transaction of $1,598,942.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 36,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,222,049.14. This represents a 56.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 6.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:MUR opened at $41.81 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.50. Murphy Oil Corporation has a 1 year low of $18.94 and a 1 year high of $42.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.06 and a beta of 0.72.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $613.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $650.90 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 3.73% and a net margin of 3.83%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. This is a boost from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is presently 194.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on MUR. Barclays raised shares of Murphy Oil from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $29.00 to $33.00 in a report on Friday, March 13th. Mizuho upped their target price on Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. UBS Group increased their target price on Murphy Oil from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Murphy Oil from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.36.

About Murphy Oil

Murphy Oil Corporation is an independent upstream oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company’s operations encompass conventional onshore and offshore reservoirs, with an emphasis on liquids-rich properties and deepwater assets. Through a combination of proprietary technologies and strategic joint ventures, Murphy Oil seeks to optimize recovery rates and manage its portfolio to balance long-term resource development with operational flexibility.

Murphy Oil’s exploration and production activities are geographically diversified.