Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Shares Bought by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV grew its stake in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,276 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 540 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $144,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 17.4% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 195,183 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $6,585,000 after purchasing an additional 28,867 shares in the last quarter. Simmons Bank lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 491.4% in the third quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 30,406 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,026,000 after buying an additional 25,265 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 15.3% in the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 51,295 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,731,000 after acquiring an additional 6,812 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 266.8% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 741 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Poplar Forest Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 30.9% in the 3rd quarter. Poplar Forest Capital LLC now owns 437,823 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $14,772,000 after acquiring an additional 103,390 shares during the period. 78.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $55.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 30th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $59.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price target on Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $36.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.92.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

MUR opened at $33.15 on Friday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 1-year low of $30.99 and a 1-year high of $49.14. The stock has a market cap of $4.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.69 and a beta of 2.21. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $758.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $759.74 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 9.22%. Murphy Oil’s revenue was down 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.59 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.71%.

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.