MetLife Investment Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

MetLife Investment Management LLC decreased its stake in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 1.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 154,479 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 2,908 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $5,212,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 0.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 101,225 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $4,626,000 after acquiring an additional 939 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 11.1% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 22,872 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,045,000 after buying an additional 2,289 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc purchased a new stake in Murphy Oil during the first quarter worth $1,859,000. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil during the first quarter valued at $1,700,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 21.7% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,404 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $182,000 after buying an additional 784 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Murphy Oil stock opened at $32.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.18. The stock has a market cap of $4.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.47 and a beta of 2.21. Murphy Oil Co. has a 1-year low of $30.99 and a 1-year high of $49.14.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.02). Murphy Oil had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 9.22%. The company had revenue of $758.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $759.74 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.59 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MUR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $36.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $55.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.92.

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.