BNP Paribas Financial Markets Purchases 16,752 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 44.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 54,483 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after acquiring an additional 16,752 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets' holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $1,649,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 32.9% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,903 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 543 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,284 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 19,916 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $603,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,353 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $132,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE:MUR traded up $0.09 on Thursday, hitting $21.02. 2,279,621 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,207,686. 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 52 week low of $18.95 and a 52 week high of $43.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.81 and a beta of 1.10. The company's 50-day moving average price is $23.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.45.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.08. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.66%. The business had revenue of $665.71 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $684.89 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. Murphy Oil's revenue for the quarter was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.325 per share. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.18%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Murphy Oil's payout ratio is 50.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MUR shares. Morgan Stanley set a $27.00 target price on shares of Murphy Oil and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Mizuho lowered shares of Murphy Oil from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $31.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Monday, April 21st. Roth Capital lowered Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $27.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $29.31.

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.