Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 438.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 135,015 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after buying an additional 109,946 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. owned about 0.09% of Murphy Oil worth $3,834,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUR. Choreo LLC purchased a new stake in Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter valued at $217,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 49,357 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $1,494,000 after purchasing an additional 734 shares during the period. Grace & White Inc. NY raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Grace & White Inc. NY now owns 151,052 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $4,571,000 after purchasing an additional 9,100 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 201,312 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $6,092,000 after purchasing an additional 6,052 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 25.9% during the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 64,570 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $1,954,000 after purchasing an additional 13,275 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Roth Capital lowered Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $27.00 to $25.00 in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Barclays cut their target price on Murphy Oil from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Monday, April 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $29.23.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

NYSE:MUR traded up $1.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $25.46. 4,393,500 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,286,337. Murphy Oil Co. has a 1 year low of $18.95 and a 1 year high of $43.02. The company has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a PE ratio of 9.46 and a beta of 1.09. 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 firm's 50 day simple moving average is $21.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.17.

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

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.11%. Murphy Oil's dividend 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.