Rafferty Asset Management LLC Purchases 26,151 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 15.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 200,816 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 26,151 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC owned about 0.14% of Murphy Oil worth $6,077,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 399.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,012,944 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $34,177,000 after buying an additional 810,104 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,881 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $238,000 after buying an additional 1,379 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 733,874 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $22,207,000 after buying an additional 61,157 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 59.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,835 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $207,000 after buying an additional 2,559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 50.9% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 11,467 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $347,000 after buying an additional 3,870 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MUR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho lowered Murphy Oil from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Murphy Oil from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Roth Capital lowered Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $27.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Murphy Oil from $31.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Murphy Oil currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.31.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

NYSE MUR opened at $22.06 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.20 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12-month low of $18.95 and a 12-month high of $43.44.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.08. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.66%. The firm had revenue of $665.71 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $684.89 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.325 per share. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

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.