Aventail Capital Group LP Trims Stock Holdings in Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

Aventail Capital Group LP reduced its stake in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) by 12.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 154,363 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 22,126 shares during the quarter. Aventail Capital Group LP’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $4,824,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth about $969,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth about $2,659,000. Abel Hall LLC purchased a new position in Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth about $350,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 45,662 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,427,000 after buying an additional 401 shares during the period. Finally, Laird Norton Wetherby Trust Company LLC purchased a new position in Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth about $336,000. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MUR opened at $35.25 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.05 billion, a PE ratio of 59.75 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The business has a 50-day moving average of $38.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.40. Murphy Oil Corporation has a 12 month low of $21.86 and a 12 month high of $43.34.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $732.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $702.96 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 3.09% and a net margin of 3.02%.The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 237.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho increased their target price on Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Friday, March 27th. KeyCorp upgraded Murphy Oil from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $48.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Piper Sandler upgraded Murphy Oil from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.75.

Murphy Oil Company Profile

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.