Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Acquires 1,036 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 19.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,269 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,036 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $259,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 1,015.7% in the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 569 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 47.7% in the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 721 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 2,105 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,547 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $116,000 after acquiring an additional 313 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on MUR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Murphy Oil from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.91.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MUR opened at $38.67 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.77 and a beta of 2.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $39.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.76. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52-week low of $35.61 and a 52-week high of $49.14.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $802.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $813.97 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 16.40%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 4.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.43%.

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.