Truist Financial Corp Trims Stock Position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Truist Financial Corp lessened its position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 31,870 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 1,613 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $1,221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MUR. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY raised its position in Murphy Oil by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY now owns 9,048 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $389,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Murphy Oil by 4.3% in the first quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,390 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $236,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its position in Murphy Oil by 1.0% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 28,180 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,042,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Murphy Oil by 1.2% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 28,065 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,038,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. Finally, Wetherby Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Murphy Oil by 4.1% in the first quarter. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,436 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MUR. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 28th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 23rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 2nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.82.

Insider Activity at Murphy Oil

In other news, Director Elisabeth W. Keller sold 1,116 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.49, for a total value of $50,766.84. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $325,298.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, VP John B. Gardner sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.95, for a total transaction of $429,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 19,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $854,490.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Elisabeth W. Keller sold 1,116 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.49, for a total transaction of $50,766.84. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $325,298.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 111,116 shares of company stock valued at $4,810,267 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 5.92% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of MUR stock opened at $45.92 on Monday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12 month low of $32.80 and a 12 month high of $51.28. The company has a market cap of $7.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.71 and a beta of 2.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $45.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.24.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.05. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 20.74% and a return on equity of 14.43%. The firm had revenue of $814.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $779.77 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.93 earnings per share. Murphy Oil’s quarterly revenue was down 26.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 13th will be given a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 10th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.26%.

Murphy Oil Company Profile

Murphy Oil Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an oil and natural 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.