Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Shares Bought by Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc.

Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. increased its position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 12.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,628 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,046 shares during the period. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc.’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $806,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MUR. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 15.9% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 36,892 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,521,000 after buying an additional 5,068 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in Murphy Oil by 16.2% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,140 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $129,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in Murphy Oil by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 38,804 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,600,000 after acquiring an additional 1,609 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 92.1% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,266 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $211,000 after acquiring an additional 3,005 shares during the period. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 106.5% in the third quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,470 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MUR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $36.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.33.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 0.9 %

MUR stock opened at $26.71 on Thursday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52-week low of $25.26 and a 52-week high of $49.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.93 and a beta of 2.14. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.51.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.62 by ($0.27). Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 7.66% and a net margin of 13.44%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.33 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.87%. This is a positive change from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is 44.61%.

About Murphy Oil

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.