Point72 Hong Kong Ltd Makes New $459,000 Investment in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 15,182 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock, valued at approximately $459,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LSV Asset Management boosted its position in 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 last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,234,585 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $67,619,000 after purchasing an additional 107,871 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 61.9% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,147,590 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $64,986,000 after purchasing an additional 821,427 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,857,702 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $56,214,000 after purchasing an additional 13,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 91.6% in 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 buying an additional 837,282 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MUR. Morgan Stanley set a $27.00 price target on Murphy Oil and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Mizuho cut Murphy Oil from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Murphy Oil from $31.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Roth Capital cut Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $27.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $29.31.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of Murphy Oil stock traded down $0.01 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $21.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,793,679 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,202,162. Murphy Oil Co. has a one year low of $18.95 and a one year high of $43.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.10. The business's fifty day moving average price is $23.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.53.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.08. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 7.66% and a net margin of 13.44%. The firm had revenue of $665.71 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $684.89 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.02%. Murphy Oil's dividend payout ratio is 50.00%.

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.