Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Makes New Investment in Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 571,928 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $18,622,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 14,700.0% in the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 740 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the 2nd quarter valued at about $54,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Roth Capital reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Wednesday. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $48.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.58.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

NYSE:MUR opened at $36.84 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Murphy Oil Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $21.86 and a fifty-two week high of $43.34. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.48. The stock has a market cap of $5.28 billion, a PE ratio of 18.24 and a beta of 0.50.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by ($0.02). Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 6.63% and a net margin of 9.74%.The company had revenue of $926.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $888.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 33.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.98 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 Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is 69.31%.

About Murphy Oil

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.