Bank of America Corp DE Has $26.97 Million Stake in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Bank of America Corp DE decreased its position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 44.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 891,201 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 718,497 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned about 0.61% of Murphy Oil worth $26,968,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MUR. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 91.6% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,751,737 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $53,008,000 after purchasing an additional 837,282 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 61.9% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,147,590 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $64,986,000 after purchasing an additional 821,427 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in Murphy Oil by 399.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,012,944 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $34,177,000 after buying an additional 810,104 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Murphy Oil by 108.2% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,529,528 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $46,284,000 after buying an additional 794,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Murphy Oil by 886,485.1% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 594,012 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $17,976,000 after buying an additional 593,945 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MUR. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Murphy Oil from $36.00 to $22.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Roth Capital downgraded Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $27.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial downgraded Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.31.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of MUR stock opened at $22.06 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $23.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.63. The company has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a PE ratio of 8.20 and a beta of 1.10. Murphy Oil Co. has a fifty-two week low of $18.95 and a fifty-two week high of $43.44. 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 (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.08. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 7.66% and a net margin of 13.44%. The company had revenue of $665.71 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $684.89 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. Murphy Oil’s revenue was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is 50.00%.

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.