Cetera Investment Advisers Reduces Position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Cetera Investment Advisers lessened its holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 52.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,518 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 21,691 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $591,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 91.6% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 837,282 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 61.9% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,147,590 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $64,986,000 after buying an additional 821,427 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 399.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,012,944 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $34,177,000 after buying an additional 810,104 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 108.2% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,529,528 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $46,284,000 after purchasing an additional 794,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 886,485.1% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 594,012 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $17,976,000 after purchasing an additional 593,945 shares during the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MUR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Roth Capital downgraded Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $27.00 to $25.00 in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Truist Financial downgraded Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Johnson Rice downgraded Murphy Oil from an "accumulate" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Murphy Oil from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $29.23.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 1.5%

MUR stock traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $20.93. The company had a trading volume of 2,004,908 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,218,786. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.78 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.85. Murphy Oil Co. has a fifty-two week low of $18.95 and a fifty-two week high of $43.02.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.08. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 7.66% and a net margin of 13.44%. The business had revenue of $665.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $684.89 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.85 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. 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 issued a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.21%. Murphy Oil's payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

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.