Venture Visionary Partners LLC Cuts Holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Venture Visionary Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,900 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 574 shares during the period. Venture Visionary Partners LLC’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $300,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 1,015.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 569 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the 3rd quarter worth $42,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 758 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 1,434.5% in the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,289 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 1,205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 2,105 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MUR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $46.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.17.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

NYSE:MUR opened at $32.60 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.63. The stock has a market cap of $4.97 billion, a PE ratio of 9.08 and a beta of 2.20. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52 week low of $32.23 and a 52 week high of $49.14.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.08. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 11.68% and a net margin of 17.32%. The firm had revenue of $802.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $813.97 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.68%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.43%.

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.