Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Shares Sold by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 230,073 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 3,995 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.16% of Murphy Oil worth $6,962,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 25,069 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $759,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 32.9% during the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,903 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 60.5% during 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 last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 32.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 19,916 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $603,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MUR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Roth Capital set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley set a $27.00 price target on shares of Murphy Oil and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.08.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE:MUR opened at $21.85 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a PE ratio of 8.12 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $23.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.91. Murphy Oil Co. has a fifty-two week low of $18.95 and a fifty-two week high of $44.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $665.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $684.89 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.66%. Murphy Oil’s quarterly revenue was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.95%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.00%.

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.