Ieq Capital LLC Grows Position in Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

Key Points

• Ieq Capital LLC increased its stake in Murphy Oil Corporation by 194.1%, acquiring an additional 14,957 shares in the first quarter, bringing its total ownership to 22,663 shares valued at approximately $644,000.
• Murphy Oil reported earnings per share of $0.27 for the most recent quarter, surpassing estimates by $0.06, although its revenue fell 13.4% year-over-year to $695.57 million.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.325 per share, yielding 5.2%, with a payout ratio of 67.36% for shareholders of record as of August 18.

Ieq Capital LLC increased its holdings in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 194.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,663 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after buying an additional 14,957 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC's holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $644,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 210.8% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,610,766 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $159,346,000 after purchasing an additional 3,805,565 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 72.9% during the first quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 4,812,267 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $136,668,000 after purchasing an additional 2,029,685 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 8,530.7% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,763,345 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $50,079,000 after purchasing an additional 1,742,914 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 29.4% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,633,023 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $103,178,000 after purchasing an additional 825,746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 61.9% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,147,590 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $64,986,000 after purchasing an additional 821,427 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on MUR. Wells Fargo & Company set a $24.00 price target on shares of Murphy Oil and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Scotiabank reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $26.00 price target (up previously from $22.00) on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Friday, July 11th. Johnson Rice cut shares of Murphy Oil from an "accumulate" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Mizuho cut shares of Murphy Oil from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $29.69.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE MUR traded up $0.29 on Tuesday, hitting $25.60. 538,528 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,840,739. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.84. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $24.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.33 and a beta of 1.15. Murphy Oil Corporation has a 52-week low of $18.94 and a 52-week high of $36.63.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 net margin of 10.20% and a return on equity of 5.25%. The business's revenue was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.81 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.325 per share. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Murphy Oil's payout ratio is currently 67.36%.

Murphy Oil Profile

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.