EMC Capital Management Buys 6,908 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

EMC Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 628.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,008 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,908 shares during the quarter. EMC Capital Management’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $242,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MUR. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,217,000. Prospector Partners LLC boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 50.5% during the third quarter. Prospector Partners LLC now owns 307,092 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $10,361,000 after buying an additional 103,092 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 605,557 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $20,431,000 after buying an additional 76,487 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 67,246 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,268,000 after buying an additional 14,181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the 3rd quarter valued at $796,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.08.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of MUR stock opened at $27.47 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $30.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.00. The stock has a market cap of $4.01 billion, a PE ratio of 8.86 and a beta of 2.17. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52-week low of $27.15 and a 52-week high of $49.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.62 by ($0.27). Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 9.22% and a net margin of 14.78%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.99 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 paid a $0.325 dividend. This is a boost from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.73%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is 38.71%.

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.