Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Cuts Stock Position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lowered its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 8.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & 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 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MUR. LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,807,277 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $84,948,000 after purchasing an additional 114,656 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,234,585 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $67,619,000 after buying an additional 107,871 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted 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 valued at $64,986,000 after buying an additional 821,427 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,857,702 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $56,214,000 after acquiring an additional 13,263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 837,282 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MUR has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $36.00 to $22.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Mizuho lowered Murphy Oil from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price target for the company from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $31.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of 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, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $29.23.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of MUR stock traded up $0.60 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $24.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,233,509 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,263,176. The stock has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a PE ratio of 9.07 and a beta of 1.09. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12-month low of $18.95 and a 12-month high of $43.02. The company has a 50 day moving average of $21.44 and a 200 day moving average of $26.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 7.66% and a net margin of 13.44%. The business had revenue of $665.71 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $684.89 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.85 EPS. The company's revenue was down 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $0.325 per share. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.