Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 5,601 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 532,093 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 5,601 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned approximately 0.36% of Murphy Oil worth $16,101,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 3,191.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,627,268 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $54,904,000 after acquiring an additional 1,577,831 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 399.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,012,944 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $34,177,000 after buying an additional 810,104 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 641.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 672,717 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $22,697,000 after acquiring an additional 582,020 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,595,260 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $53,824,000 after buying an additional 336,372 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G PLC acquired a new position in Murphy Oil in the 3rd quarter valued at $8,766,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Murphy Oil

In other news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu purchased 1,573 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $989,635.50. The trade was a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming bought 50,000 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.47 per share, with a total value of $1,323,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 931,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,660,801.97. This represents a 5.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 5.95% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE MUR opened at $26.27 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $30.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.46. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52 week low of $25.26 and a 52 week high of $49.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a PE ratio of 9.77 and a beta of 2.14.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by ($0.27). Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 7.66% and a net margin of 13.44%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.33 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.325 dividend. This is a positive change from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.95%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MUR has been the topic of several recent research reports. KeyCorp cut their target price on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays cut their price target on Murphy Oil from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $37.00 target price on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.33.

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.