Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR Shares Sold by Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC

Key Points

• Segall Bryant & Hamill reduced its Murphy Oil stake by 4.7% in the first quarter, selling 43,726 shares and retaining 886,984 shares valued at approximately $36.6 million. Institutional investors collectively own 78.31% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious, with Murphy Oil holding an overall “Hold” rating and an average price target of $38.33. Recent actions included downgrades from Jefferies and Morgan Stanley, partly offset by Barclays raising its price target to $43.
• Murphy Oil beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $0.32 in EPS versus a $0.29 consensus and revenue of $732.35 million, up 9% year over year. Shares opened at $39.76, compared with a 12-month range of $21.86 to $43.34.

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC cut its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 4.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 886,984 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 43,726 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC owned about 0.62% of Murphy Oil worth $36,588,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MUR. Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 14,700.0% during the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 740 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 735 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC purchased a new position in Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Torren Management LLC purchased a new position in Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 72.9% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,701 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 717 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MUR. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Scotiabank restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $44.00 price target on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $37.00 to $35.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Murphy Oil from $36.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $38.33.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of MUR stock opened at $39.76 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $36.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.15. The company has a market cap of $5.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.38 and a beta of 0.52. Murphy Oil Corporation has a 12 month low of $21.86 and a 12 month high of $43.34.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.03. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 3.09% and a net margin of 3.02%.The firm had revenue of $732.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $702.96 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. Murphy Oil's revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Profile

Murphy Oil Corporation is an independent upstream oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company's operations encompass conventional onshore and offshore reservoirs, with an emphasis on liquids-rich properties and deepwater assets. Through a combination of proprietary technologies and strategic joint ventures, Murphy Oil seeks to optimize recovery rates and manage its portfolio to balance long-term resource development with operational flexibility.

Murphy Oil's exploration and production activities are geographically diversified.

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