Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Shares Purchased by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 63.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 312,072 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 121,099 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $9,444,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Murphy Oil by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,548,711 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $119,755,000 after purchasing an additional 45,432 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its position in Murphy Oil by 2.3% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 2,627,701 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $88,659,000 after purchasing an additional 58,220 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Murphy Oil by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,857,702 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $56,214,000 after purchasing an additional 13,263 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 91.6% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,751,737 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $53,008,000 after acquiring an additional 837,282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 26.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,595,260 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $53,824,000 after acquiring an additional 336,372 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Claiborne P. Deming bought 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.47 per share, with a total value of $1,323,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 931,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,660,801.97. The trade was a 5.67 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu purchased 1,573 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.70 per share, for a total transaction of $41,999.10. Following the purchase, the vice president now directly owns 37,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,635.50. This represents a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 5.92% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

MUR stock opened at $26.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market cap of $3.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.98 and a beta of 2.18. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.05. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52 week low of $22.90 and a 52 week high of $49.14.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.325 dividend. This is a positive change from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.84%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.31.

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.