State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Trims Position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lowered its position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 36.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,483 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 25,694 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $1,834,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mather Group LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 1,015.7% during 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. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Murphy Oil in the first quarter valued at $30,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 47.7% in the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 721 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 1,434.5% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,289 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 27.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on MUR shares. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $59.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.00.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Murphy Oil stock opened at $35.83 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.98 and a beta of 2.21. The company has a 50 day moving average of $37.51 and a 200 day moving average of $41.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52-week low of $33.15 and a 52-week high of $49.14.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $802.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $813.97 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 11.68% and a net margin of 17.32%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.