Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) Shares Bought by Simmons Bank

Simmons Bank increased its stake in shares of Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 38.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 60,643 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after buying an additional 16,975 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank's holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $1,722,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth about $678,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 32.9% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,284 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 904,449 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $27,369,000 after buying an additional 116,552 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter valued at $3,846,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in Murphy Oil by 60.5% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,441 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the period. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MUR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Murphy Oil from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Johnson Rice downgraded shares of Murphy Oil from an "accumulate" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $24.00 price target on shares of Murphy Oil and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $29.15.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of MUR traded down $0.59 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $23.88. The company had a trading volume of 2,374,758 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,359,690. The company has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.18 and a beta of 1.09. Murphy Oil Corporation has a 12-month low of $18.95 and a 12-month high of $43.02. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 13.47%. The business had revenue of $665.71 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $684.89 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

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.