Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Shares Sold by Park Avenue Securities LLC

Park Avenue Securities LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,819 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 615 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $399,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MUR. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 90.5% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,092,374 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $45,050,000 after buying an additional 518,904 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 92.1% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 687,254 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $28,342,000 after purchasing an additional 329,521 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 3.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,254,125 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $340,400,000 after purchasing an additional 262,256 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 83.3% in the second quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 545,926 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $22,514,000 after purchasing an additional 248,134 shares during the period. Finally, F M Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil in the second quarter valued at about $10,182,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

NYSE:MUR opened at $35.91 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.00 and a beta of 2.20. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.40. Murphy Oil Co. has a twelve month low of $32.53 and a twelve month high of $49.14.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $802.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $813.97 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 17.32% and a return on equity of 11.68%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $46.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $36.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Murphy Oil currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.58.

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.