JPMorgan Chase & Co. Purchases 336,372 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 26.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,595,260 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after buying an additional 336,372 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 1.09% of Murphy Oil worth $53,824,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 266.8% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 741 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Murphy Oil in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Murphy Oil during the 3rd quarter worth $42,000. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 1,434.5% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,289 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 1,205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 106.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,470 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 758 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MUR shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $39.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $39.58.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MUR traded down $0.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $30.85. 1,358,696 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,276,598. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $31.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.15. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52 week low of $27.75 and a 52 week high of $49.14. The company has a market cap of $4.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.95 and a beta of 2.17.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.02). Murphy Oil had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 9.22%. The company had revenue of $758.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $759.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.59 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Murphy Oil

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.