Park Avenue Securities LLC Has $313,000 Position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Park Avenue Securities LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 12.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,343 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 1,476 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of 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 period. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Murphy Oil in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Murphy Oil in the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 106.5% during the third quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,470 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 90.1% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,758 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 833 shares during the period. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MUR shares. Mizuho lowered their target price on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Murphy Oil from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $37.00 price target on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.42.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 2.4 %

NYSE MUR opened at $29.66 on Friday. Murphy Oil Co. has a fifty-two week low of $27.75 and a fifty-two week high of $49.14. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $31.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.29. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $4.33 billion, a PE ratio of 9.57 and a beta of 2.17.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $758.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $759.74 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 9.22%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.59 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Murphy Oil

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.