Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 1,000 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lessened its holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 45,340 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $1,372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Huntington National Bank boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 342.8% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 828 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 641 shares during the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 60.5% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,441 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 543 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 32.9% during the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,903 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 471 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,284 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Murphy Oil news, Director Claiborne P. Deming purchased 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $26.47 per share, with a total value of $1,323,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 931,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,660,801.97. This trade represents a 5.67 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu acquired 1,573 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the acquisition, the vice president now owns 37,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,635.50. The trade was a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 6.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MUR shares. Morgan Stanley set a $27.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group decreased their target price on Murphy Oil from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $37.00 price objective on Murphy Oil in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.23.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 1.2 %

Murphy Oil stock opened at $21.08 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Murphy Oil Co. has a 1-year low of $18.95 and a 1-year high of $46.91. The company has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.84 and a beta of 1.68.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 EPS 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 company posted $0.90 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.17%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is 48.33%.

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.