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

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake 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 firm owned 135,015 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after acquiring an additional 109,946 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. owned 0.09% of Murphy Oil worth $3,834,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Impact Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Murphy Oil in the first quarter valued at $372,000. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in Murphy Oil in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in Murphy Oil by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 480,516 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $13,647,000 after buying an additional 7,837 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Murphy Oil by 6,900.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 88,210 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $2,505,000 after buying an additional 86,950 shares during the period. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 8.7% in the first quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 42,345 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $1,203,000 after acquiring an additional 3,374 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on MUR. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $36.00 to $22.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Mizuho lowered shares of Murphy Oil from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective 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. Finally, Roth Capital downgraded shares of 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 research report on Thursday, May 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $29.23.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

MUR traded up $0.08 during trading on Thursday, hitting $24.40. 567,134 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,261,834. Murphy Oil Co. has a one year low of $18.95 and a one year high of $43.02. The stock's fifty day moving average is $21.48 and its 200 day moving average is $26.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.07 and a beta of 1.09.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.66%. The company's revenue was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $0.325 per share. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.33%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. Murphy Oil's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.