First Eagle Investment Management LLC Cuts Stake in Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

First Eagle Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) by 16.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 269,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 53,500 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $8,406,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 255.3% during 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 buying an additional 365,011 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 21.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,736,815 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $106,163,000 after buying an additional 668,525 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the third quarter valued at $920,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 512.1% during the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 69,948 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,987,000 after buying an additional 58,521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the third quarter valued at $3,372,000. 78.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 2.8%

MUR stock opened at $38.67 on Wednesday. Murphy Oil Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $20.31 and a fifty-two week high of $43.34. The business’s 50-day moving average is $38.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.55 and a beta of 0.55.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.03. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 3.09% and a net margin of 3.02%.The company had revenue of $732.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $702.96 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. Murphy Oil’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 237.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Murphy Oil news, SVP Daniel R. Hanchera sold 47,320 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.79, for a total value of $1,598,942.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 36,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,222,049.14. This represents a 56.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 5.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on MUR. Piper Sandler raised Murphy Oil from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Zacks Research raised Murphy Oil from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Murphy Oil to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Murphy Oil presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.55.

Murphy Oil Company 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.