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

AlphaQuest LLC reduced its holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 90.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor 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 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MUR. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 15.3% in the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 51,295 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,731,000 after purchasing an additional 6,812 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 17.4% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 195,183 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $6,585,000 after buying an additional 28,867 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,276 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $144,000 after buying an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mutual of America Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,758 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

NYSE MUR opened at $26.06 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.69 and a beta of 2.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $28.53 and a two-hundred 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.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MUR has been the topic of several recent research reports. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial lowered shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $42.00 to $31.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Roth Capital set a $37.00 price objective on Murphy Oil in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One investment 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, Murphy Oil has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Claiborne P. Deming acquired 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost 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 in the company, valued at $24,660,801.97. This represents a 5.67 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu bought 1,573 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $26.70 per share, for a total transaction of $41,999.10. Following the acquisition, the vice president now owns 37,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $989,635.50. This represents a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 5.95% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.