Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) Shares Purchased by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 210.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,610,766 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after acquiring an additional 3,805,565 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 3.93% of Murphy Oil worth $159,346,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MUR. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 64,386 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $1,948,000 after acquiring an additional 8,135 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 437,088 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $13,226,000 after purchasing an additional 8,731 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 18.6% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,576 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 1,503 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 68,023 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $2,058,000 after purchasing an additional 777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,425,706 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $43,142,000 after purchasing an additional 124,353 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on MUR shares. Scotiabank reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $26.00 target price (up from $22.00) on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Johnson Rice downgraded Murphy Oil from an "accumulate" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Barclays boosted their target price on Murphy Oil from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Murphy Oil from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $29.69.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MUR traded up $0.00 on Thursday, hitting $23.25. The company had a trading volume of 1,882,519 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,919,125. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Murphy Oil Corporation has a 52-week low of $18.94 and a 52-week high of $39.46. The business has a 50 day moving average of $24.38 and a 200 day moving average of $24.31. The company has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a PE ratio of 12.05 and a beta of 1.13.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $695.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $632.51 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 5.25% and a net margin of 10.20%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. Murphy Oil's dividend payout ratio is presently 67.36%.

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.