Point72 Hong Kong Ltd Makes New $459,000 Investment in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 15,182 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $459,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MUR. Barclays PLC grew its position in Murphy Oil by 399.4% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Murphy Oil by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,881 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 1,379 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 733,874 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $22,207,000 after acquiring an additional 61,157 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 59.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,835 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $207,000 after acquiring an additional 2,559 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 50.9% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 3,870 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 2.2%

MUR opened at $22.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.83. Murphy Oil Co. has a fifty-two week low of $18.95 and a fifty-two week high of $43.44. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $23.32 and its 200 day moving average is $27.65. The stock has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.20 and a beta of 1.10.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $665.71 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $684.89 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.66%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Roth Capital downgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $27.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $31.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.31.

About Murphy Oil

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.