Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Shares Sold by BNP Paribas Financial Markets

BNP Paribas Financial Markets reduced its stake in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 32.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,731 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 18,002 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $1,273,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MUR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Murphy Oil by 3.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,254,125 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $340,400,000 after buying an additional 262,256 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,138,985 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $88,212,000 after acquiring an additional 107,462 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 3,191.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,627,268 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $54,904,000 after acquiring an additional 1,577,831 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 90.5% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,092,374 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $45,050,000 after purchasing an additional 518,904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 28.4% in the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 1,043,950 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $35,223,000 after purchasing an additional 231,007 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank cut their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group cut their price target on Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.58.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 1.9 %

MUR opened at $30.56 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of 9.86 and a beta of 2.18. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $33.00 and its 200-day moving average is $36.61. Murphy Oil Co. has a one year low of $29.84 and a one year high of $49.14.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.02). Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 9.22% and a net margin of 14.78%. The company had revenue of $758.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $759.74 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.59 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.71%.

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.