11,161 Shares in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Purchased by Vestcor Inc

Vestcor Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 11,161 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock, valued at approximately $338,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,548,711 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $119,755,000 after purchasing an additional 45,432 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 2,627,701 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $88,659,000 after buying an additional 58,220 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,857,702 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $56,214,000 after buying an additional 13,263 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 91.6% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,751,737 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $53,008,000 after buying an additional 837,282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,595,260 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $53,824,000 after acquiring an additional 336,372 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MUR shares. Roth Capital set a $37.00 price target on Murphy Oil in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. KeyCorp cut their price target 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. Morgan Stanley reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $35.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Murphy Oil news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu purchased 1,573 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.70 per share, with a total value of $41,999.10. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 37,065 shares of the company's stock, valued at $989,635.50. This represents a 4.43 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming acquired 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $26.47 per share, for a total transaction of $1,323,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,660,801.97. The trade was a 5.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 5.92% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:MUR traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $26.73. 14,858,658 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,800,149. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.90 billion, a PE ratio of 9.93 and a beta of 2.18. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12-month low of $22.90 and a 12-month high of $49.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.83. The business has a 50-day moving average of $28.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.05.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 period last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.325 dividend. This is a positive change from Murphy Oil's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.86%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Murphy Oil's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.33%.

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.