Cetera Investment Advisers Raises Position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 4.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,804 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,609 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $1,600,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP increased its position in Murphy Oil by 102.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 70,244 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,897,000 after purchasing an additional 35,621 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 16.2% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,140 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $129,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares during the period. Creative Planning raised its position in Murphy Oil by 15.9% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 36,892 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,521,000 after acquiring an additional 5,068 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 5.2% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 181,023 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $7,465,000 after acquiring an additional 8,971 shares during the period. Finally, Scientech Research LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the 2nd quarter worth $350,000. 78.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MUR. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Murphy Oil from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 27th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.58.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 1.1 %

Murphy Oil stock opened at $35.50 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.42 billion, a PE ratio of 9.89 and a beta of 2.20. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $35.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.29. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52 week low of $32.53 and a 52 week high of $49.14.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 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 net margin of 17.32% and a return on equity of 11.68%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.43%.

Murphy Oil 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.