Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Takes $343,000 Position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co bought a new position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 11,337 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $343,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MUR. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 60.5% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,441 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 543 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,284 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth about $113,000. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund acquired a new position in Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth approximately $188,000. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in Murphy Oil by 67.5% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 6,337 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $192,000 after buying an additional 2,553 shares during the period. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays reduced their target price on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Murphy Oil presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.92.

Insider Activity

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

Murphy Oil Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of MUR stock opened at $28.45 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $4.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.58 and a beta of 2.18. Murphy Oil Co. has a 1 year low of $22.90 and a 1 year high of $49.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.69.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share 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 company earned $0.90 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.325 dividend. This is a positive change from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.57%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.33%.

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.