AlphaQuest LLC Trims Stock Position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

AlphaQuest LLC decreased its position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 90.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,419 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 98,258 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $315,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 51,295 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,731,000 after acquiring an additional 6,812 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 17.4% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 195,183 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $6,585,000 after acquiring an additional 28,867 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased 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 valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the period. Finally, Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 220,497 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $7,440,000 after purchasing an additional 1,758 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Murphy Oil currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu bought 1,573 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $26.70 per share, with a total value of $41,999.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president now directly owns 37,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,635.50. This trade represents a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming purchased 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.47 per share, for a total transaction of $1,323,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly 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 5.95% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of MUR stock opened at $26.06 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $28.53 and a 200 day moving average of $31.44. Murphy Oil Co. has a 1 year low of $22.90 and a 1 year high of $49.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.69 and a beta of 2.18.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 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 company posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.99%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is presently 48.33%.

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.