Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Holdings Decreased by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System trimmed its position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,100 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $1,153,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Lindenwold Advisors INC boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 10,529 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 25,069 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $759,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 6,574 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 494 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 266.8% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 741 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,276 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $144,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the period. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu purchased 1,573 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.70 per share, for a total transaction of $41,999.10. Following the purchase, the vice president now owns 37,065 shares in the company, valued at $989,635.50. The trade was a 4.43 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming purchased 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of $26.47 per share, with a total value of $1,323,500.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at $24,660,801.97. This represents a 5.67 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 5.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MUR. Mizuho cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.33.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 1.3 %

NYSE:MUR opened at $28.30 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.52 and a beta of 2.14. Murphy Oil Co. has a 1-year low of $25.26 and a 1-year high of $49.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $29.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.75.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.62 by ($0.27). Murphy Oil had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.66%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.325 dividend. This is a positive change from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.61%.

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.