Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Shares Purchased by LSV Asset Management

LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,807,277 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after buying an additional 114,656 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management owned 1.92% of Murphy Oil worth $84,948,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MUR. Huntington National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 342.8% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 828 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 60.5% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,441 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 543 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 32.9% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,903 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 32.9% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,284 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Finally, New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth $113,000. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MUR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays lowered their target price on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $27.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $32.77.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

MUR traded up $1.00 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $21.12. The stock had a trading volume of 1,012,677 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,026,669. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $18.95 and a 1 year high of $46.91. The business has a fifty day moving average of $25.78 and a 200 day moving average of $29.60. The company has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.85 and a beta of 1.68.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.62 by ($0.27). Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 7.66% and a net margin of 13.44%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.16%. Murphy Oil's payout ratio is 48.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy Oil

In other Murphy Oil news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu purchased 1,573 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $26.70 per share, with a total value of $41,999.10. Following the purchase, the vice president now owns 37,065 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $989,635.50. The trade was a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming acquired 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $26.47 per share, with a total value of $1,323,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 931,651 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,660,801.97. This represents a 5.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 6.52% of the company's stock.

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.