Virtus Investment Advisers LLC Buys 1,599 Shares of Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

Virtus Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) by 30.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,909 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,599 shares during the period. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $155,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MUR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 0.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,974,008 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $226,461,000 after purchasing an additional 35,826 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,700,148 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $128,253,000 after buying an additional 89,382 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 72.9% during the 1st quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 4,812,267 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $136,668,000 after acquiring an additional 2,029,685 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,751,712 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $84,414,000 after acquiring an additional 118,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 44.9% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,068,290 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $69,037,000 after acquiring an additional 950,630 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MUR. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Murphy Oil from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Murphy Oil from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 22nd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $28.50.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:MUR opened at $32.07 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.58 billion, a PE ratio of 16.62 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.78. Murphy Oil Corporation has a 1 year low of $18.94 and a 1 year high of $34.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 21st. The oil and gas producer reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $440.08 million for the quarter. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 5.25% and a net margin of 10.20%. On average, equities analysts predict that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 132.65%.

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.