Mariner LLC Purchases 1,036 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Mariner LLC boosted its position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,585 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,036 shares during the quarter. Mariner LLC’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $865,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in Murphy Oil by 91.6% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,751,737 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $53,008,000 after acquiring an additional 837,282 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 810,104 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Murphy Oil by 108.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 794,730 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in Murphy Oil by 886,485.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 593,945 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Murphy Oil by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,595,260 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $53,824,000 after acquiring an additional 336,372 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MUR has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley set a $27.00 price target on Murphy Oil and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Monday, February 3rd. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on Murphy Oil from $36.00 to $22.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.23.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of MUR opened at $21.20 on Tuesday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12-month low of $18.95 and a 12-month high of $46.91. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a PE ratio of 7.88 and a beta of 1.68.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by ($0.27). Murphy Oil had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.66%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.13%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is 48.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu purchased 1,573 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $26.70 per share, for a total transaction of $41,999.10. Following the acquisition, the vice president now owns 37,065 shares in the company, valued at $989,635.50. This trade represents a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming purchased 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $26.47 per share, with a total value of $1,323,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,660,801.97. The trade was a 5.67 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 6.52% of the company’s stock.

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.