Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Has $238,000 Holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 21.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,881 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,379 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 342.8% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 828 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 641 shares during the period. GeoWealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 60.5% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its position in Murphy Oil by 32.9% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,903 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in Murphy Oil by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,284 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MUR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Johnson Rice lowered shares of Murphy Oil from an “accumulate” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $31.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group decreased their target price 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. Finally, KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.23.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MUR opened at $25.03 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.31 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Murphy Oil Co. has a 1 year low of $18.95 and a 1 year high of $43.02.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $665.71 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $684.89 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.66%. The company’s revenue was down 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.19%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is presently 50.00%.

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.