Hsbc Holdings PLC Grows Stock Position in Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

Key Points

• Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in Murphy Oil Corporation by 11.4% in the first quarter, owning 0.09% of the company valued at approximately $3.85 million.
• Murphy Oil reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, but its quarterly revenue decreased by 13.4% compared to the previous year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.325 per share, yielding 5.4%, with the payment scheduled for September 2nd to investors of record on August 18th.

Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 11.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 134,575 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after buying an additional 13,759 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned 0.09% of Murphy Oil worth $3,851,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MUR. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in Murphy Oil by 3,989.7% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,186 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,157 shares during the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the 1st quarter valued at $215,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 128,917 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $3,661,000 after purchasing an additional 1,811 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 26,830 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $762,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Murphy Oil by 26.5% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,117,660 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $60,142,000 after acquiring an additional 443,070 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

MUR traded up $0.18 during trading on Friday, hitting $24.93. The stock had a trading volume of 1,395,750 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,333,971. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 1.13. The company's 50-day moving average price is $24.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.98. Murphy Oil Corporation has a twelve month low of $18.94 and a twelve month high of $38.08.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.06. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 10.20% and a return on equity of 5.25%. The company had revenue of $695.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $632.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.81 EPS. The business's revenue was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. Murphy Oil's dividend payout ratio is 67.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $26.00 price objective (up from $22.00) on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Mizuho lowered shares of Murphy Oil from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $31.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $29.69.

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.