Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Sells 62,860 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC cut its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 8.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 671,014 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 62,860 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned 0.47% of Murphy Oil worth $19,057,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MUR. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 91.6% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,751,737 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $53,008,000 after purchasing an additional 837,282 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 61.9% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 108.2% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,529,528 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $46,284,000 after buying an additional 794,730 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 886,485.1% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 594,012 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $17,976,000 after buying an additional 593,945 shares during the period. Finally, HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 418.9% during the 4th quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 645,252 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $19,525,000 after acquiring an additional 520,894 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MUR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Roth Capital lowered Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $27.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Scotiabank cut their price target on Murphy Oil from $36.00 to $22.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Murphy Oil from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $29.23.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MUR traded up $0.96 during trading on Friday, reaching $22.50. The stock had a trading volume of 2,315,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,240,876. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52 week low of $18.95 and a 52 week high of $43.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.36 and a beta of 1.09.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $665.71 million for 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 business's quarterly revenue was down 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.78%. Murphy Oil's payout ratio is presently 50.00%.

Murphy Oil Company 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.