Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Buys New Holdings in Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 311,675 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $10,148,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Murphy Oil in the second quarter valued at approximately $626,514,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 105.6% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,310,884 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $136,574,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700,498 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $49,681,000. SIR Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in Murphy Oil in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,896,000. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil during the 3rd quarter valued at $21,096,000. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

NYSE MUR opened at $38.19 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $35.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.54. The stock has a market cap of $5.48 billion, a PE ratio of 18.91 and a beta of 0.50. Murphy Oil Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $21.86 and a fifty-two week high of $43.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.57 by ($0.02). Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 6.63% and a net margin of 9.74%.The company had revenue of $926.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $888.51 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 33.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on MUR. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $41.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 7th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $48.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.58.

Murphy Oil Company Profile

Murphy Oil Corporation is an independent upstream oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company’s operations encompass conventional onshore and offshore reservoirs, with an emphasis on liquids-rich properties and deepwater assets. Through a combination of proprietary technologies and strategic joint ventures, Murphy Oil seeks to optimize recovery rates and manage its portfolio to balance long-term resource development with operational flexibility.

Murphy Oil’s exploration and production activities are geographically diversified.