Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Cuts Stock Position in Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC trimmed its position in shares of Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) by 16.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 588,283 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 112,496 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned about 0.41% of Murphy Oil worth $16,713,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MUR. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Murphy Oil by 1.6% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,700,148 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $128,253,000 after acquiring an additional 89,382 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 72.9% during the 1st quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 4,812,267 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $136,668,000 after purchasing an additional 2,029,685 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew 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 valued at $107,247,000 after purchasing an additional 312,904 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its position in Murphy Oil by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,751,712 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $84,414,000 after purchasing an additional 118,689 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 44.9% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,068,290 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $69,037,000 after purchasing an additional 950,630 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Murphy Oil from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Zacks Research raised Murphy Oil from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Murphy Oil from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Monday, December 15th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $29.08.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of MUR opened at $31.58 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.51 billion, a PE ratio of 32.22 and a beta of 0.81. Murphy Oil Corporation has a one year low of $18.94 and a one year high of $34.52.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 21st. The oil and gas producer reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 4.30% and a net margin of 5.16%.The firm had revenue of $440.08 million during the quarter. On average, analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th were given a dividend of $0.325 per share. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 132.65%.

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.