World Investment Advisors Increases Holdings in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR)

World Investment Advisors grew its holdings in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 170.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,562 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after buying an additional 12,324 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors' holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $556,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Murphy Oil by 61.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Murphy Oil by 108.2% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,529,528 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $46,284,000 after buying an additional 794,730 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC increased its position in 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 buying an additional 520,894 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corigliano Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in Murphy Oil during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $11,023,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Murphy Oil from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Johnson Rice lowered Murphy Oil from an "accumulate" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Mizuho lowered Murphy Oil from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Murphy Oil from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $29.46.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

NYSE MUR traded up $0.27 on Friday, hitting $26.49. 1,821,533 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,393,690. The company has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.19 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The business's 50 day moving average price is $22.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.35. Murphy Oil Corporation has a 52-week low of $18.95 and a 52-week high of $43.02.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $665.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $684.89 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 13.47%. Murphy Oil's quarterly revenue was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

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.