Van ECK Associates Corp Makes New Investment in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR – Get Rating) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,213 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $78,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUR. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 73.5% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 21,212 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $857,000 after acquiring an additional 8,987 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 45.2% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 15,252 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $616,000 after buying an additional 4,749 shares during the period. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 22.5% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 10,669 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $431,000 after buying an additional 1,961 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 446,302 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $18,026,000 after buying an additional 9,758 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 53,213 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,149,000 after buying an additional 5,075 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.55% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Thomas J. Mireles sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.06, for a total value of $735,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,894 shares in the company, valued at $1,957,199.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Roger W. Jenkins sold 150,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.52, for a total value of $7,578,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 664,664 shares in the company, valued at $33,578,825.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Thomas J. Mireles sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.06, for a total value of $735,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 39,894 shares in the company, valued at $1,957,199.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 240,754 shares of company stock worth $12,055,495 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 6.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MUR shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Murphy Oil in a report on Wednesday, October 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Murphy Oil from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Murphy Oil from $48.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 10th. StockNews.com cut Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 15th. Finally, Truist Financial cut Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $46.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, December 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.56.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

NYSE:MUR opened at $42.12 on Friday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12 month low of $25.97 and a 12 month high of $51.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $43.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market cap of $6.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.09 and a beta of 2.41.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.28. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 17.20% and a net margin of 25.27%. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $930.51 million. On average, analysts expect that Murphy Oil Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Murphy Oil

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Murphy Oil Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an oil and natural 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.