United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Invests $546,000 in Murphy Oil Corporation $MUR

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 16,772 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $546,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MUR. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Murphy Oil during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $19,536,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $109,000. Corient Private Wealth LP bought a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $526,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $45,719,000. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $5,084,000. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MUR. Roth Capital restated a “neutral” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 27th. Barclays cut shares of Murphy Oil from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $38.00 to $34.00 in a report on Friday, August 14th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $44.00 price target on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.58.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

MUR stock opened at $36.38 on Tuesday. Murphy Oil Corporation has a 1 year low of $24.49 and a 1 year high of $43.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.01 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $35.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.76.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.55 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 firm had revenue of $926.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $888.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 33.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is 69.31%.

About Murphy Oil

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.