Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Holdings Raised by Raymond James & Associates

Raymond James & Associates raised its position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 142,138 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after acquiring an additional 20,396 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned approximately 0.09% of Murphy Oil worth $4,796,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MUR. Duality Advisers LP raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 364.6% in the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 113,451 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $5,185,000 after acquiring an additional 89,032 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its position in Murphy Oil by 138.8% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 29,702 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $1,357,000 after purchasing an additional 17,265 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,642 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $715,000 after buying an additional 599 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the first quarter worth about $1,022,000. Finally, Mutual of America Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 21.2% during the second quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 218,739 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $9,021,000 after buying an additional 38,334 shares during the period. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on MUR shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on 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. Barclays decreased their target price on Murphy Oil from $46.00 to $38.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They set a "peer perform" rating for the company. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $36.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $41.17.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Murphy Oil stock traded down $0.37 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $31.11. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,065,881 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,368,343. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.54 billion, a PE ratio of 8.19 and a beta of 2.21. Murphy Oil Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.99 and a fifty-two week high of $49.14. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $34.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.08. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 11.68% and a net margin of 17.32%. The business had revenue of $802.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $813.97 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. The company's revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Murphy Oil's payout ratio is currently 31.58%.

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.