Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 2.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,627,701 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 58,220 shares during the quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $88,659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 101,225 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,626,000 after acquiring an additional 939 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 22,872 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,045,000 after acquiring an additional 2,289 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new position in Murphy Oil during the first quarter valued at $1,859,000. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the 1st quarter worth about $1,700,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Murphy Oil by 21.7% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,404 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $182,000 after purchasing an additional 784 shares during the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE MUR opened at $32.36 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.44 and a beta of 2.18. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $33.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.01. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12 month low of $30.99 and a 12 month high of $49.14.

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

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is 38.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MUR. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of 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. UBS Group lowered their target price on Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th. 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. Barclays lowered 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 research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on Murphy Oil from $59.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.92.

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.