Quadrature Capital Ltd Makes New Investment in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 36,094 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,217,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 266.8% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 741 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 1,015.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 569 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the third quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 106.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,470 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares during the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $36.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.92.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MUR opened at $29.98 on Friday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12-month low of $29.84 and a 12-month high of $49.14. The company has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a PE ratio of 9.67 and a beta of 2.18. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $759.74 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.59 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.00%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.71%.

Murphy Oil 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.