Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Position Boosted by BNP Paribas Financial Markets

BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 44.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 54,483 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,752 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $1,649,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 399.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,012,944 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $34,177,000 after purchasing an additional 810,104 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 59.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,835 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 50.9% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 11,467 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $347,000 after purchasing an additional 3,870 shares during the last quarter. EMC Capital Management grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 628.0% during the fourth quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 8,008 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 6,908 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $113,000. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Barclays lowered their price target on Murphy Oil from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $31.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.31.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of MUR stock opened at $22.06 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.20 and a beta of 1.10. Murphy Oil Co. has a one year low of $18.95 and a one year high of $43.44. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $665.71 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $684.89 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 7.66% and a net margin of 13.44%. Murphy Oil’s quarterly revenue was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.89%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is presently 50.00%.

Murphy Oil 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.