Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Purchases New Position in Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 363,221 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $11,826,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MUR. NewEdge Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 10,954 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,118 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $500,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 11,091 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 45,662 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,427,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 49,066 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,533,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MUR shares. Barclays cut Murphy Oil from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $38.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. 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 research note on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.58.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of MUR opened at $34.70 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.68. The firm has a market cap of $4.98 billion, a PE ratio of 17.18 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Murphy Oil Corporation has a 1-year low of $23.81 and a 1-year high of $43.34.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.55 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $926.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $888.51 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 33.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.31%.

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.