Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 6,606 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 537,694 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 6,606 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $18,142,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MUR. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 28.0% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,261 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 714 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Murphy Oil by 37.7% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 22,322 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $921,000 after buying an additional 6,110 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 19.8% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,269 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $259,000 after buying an additional 1,036 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 13,851 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $571,000 after acquiring an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 121,742 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $5,021,000 after acquiring an additional 6,341 shares during the period. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MUR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $36.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $59.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.25.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of MUR opened at $30.29 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.42 billion, a PE ratio of 9.77 and a beta of 2.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $32.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.32. Murphy Oil Co. has a 1-year low of $29.84 and a 1-year high of $49.14.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.02). Murphy Oil had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 9.22%. The firm had revenue of $758.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $759.74 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.71%.

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.