Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Invests $768,000 in Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 24,570 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $768,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 255.3% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 508,012 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $14,433,000 after purchasing an additional 365,011 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 60.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,119,622 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $60,218,000 after purchasing an additional 794,510 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Murphy Oil by 21.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,736,815 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $106,163,000 after purchasing an additional 668,525 shares in the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil in the 3rd quarter valued at about $920,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,766,534 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $107,247,000 after buying an additional 312,904 shares during the period. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Daniel R. Hanchera sold 47,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.79, for a total value of $1,598,942.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 36,166 shares in the company, valued at $1,222,049.14. The trade was a 56.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 6.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 4.0%

Shares of NYSE MUR opened at $39.59 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $34.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.66. The stock has a market cap of $5.68 billion, a PE ratio of 54.99 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Murphy Oil Corporation has a 52-week low of $18.94 and a 52-week high of $42.91.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.21. The company had revenue of $613.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $650.90 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 3.73% and a net margin of 3.83%.The firm’s revenue was down 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This is an increase from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is 194.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on MUR. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Piper Sandler raised Murphy Oil from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $33.00 to $41.00 in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Scotiabank upgraded Murphy Oil to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.36.

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.