Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Position Reduced by Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky cut its position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,610 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 2,400 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $2,031,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Headinvest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the third quarter worth approximately $70,000. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter worth approximately $151,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter worth approximately $163,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 3,938 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $168,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MUR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Scotiabank lowered shares of Murphy Oil from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $54.00 target price for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:MUR opened at $39.51 on Friday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12 month low of $36.34 and a 12 month high of $49.14. The firm has a market cap of $6.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.01 and a beta of 2.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company’s 50 day moving average is $42.85 and its 200-day moving average is $42.05.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.03. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 11.75%. The company had revenue of $794.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.94 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.24 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.