Empowered Funds LLC Takes Position in Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 49,981 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,627,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new position in Murphy Oil during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 14,700.0% during the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 740 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 735 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 72.9% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,701 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 717 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil in the second quarter worth $54,000. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MUR has been the subject of several analyst reports. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $48.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays lowered Murphy Oil from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $34.00 in a report on Friday, August 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.25.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 1.1%

MUR stock opened at $37.27 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $35.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.84. The company has a market capitalization of $5.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.45 and a beta of 0.50. Murphy Oil Corporation has a 52 week low of $24.49 and a 52 week high of $43.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.57 by ($0.02). Murphy Oil had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 6.63%. The company had revenue of $926.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $888.51 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 33.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is currently 69.31%.

Murphy Oil Profile

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.