Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Cuts Stock Position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lessened its holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 39.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,063 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 2,678 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $137,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 3.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,254,125 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $340,400,000 after buying an additional 262,256 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 2,627,701 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $88,659,000 after purchasing an additional 58,220 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 5.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,138,985 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $88,212,000 after purchasing an additional 107,462 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 3,191.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,627,268 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $54,904,000 after purchasing an additional 1,577,831 shares during the period. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 28.4% in the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 1,043,950 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $35,223,000 after buying an additional 231,007 shares during the period. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of MUR opened at $28.23 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $31.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.91. The company has a market cap of $4.12 billion, a PE ratio of 9.11 and a beta of 2.18. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12-month low of $27.75 and a 12-month high of $49.14.

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

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.25%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is 38.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp cut their price target on Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $36.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.58.

Murphy Oil Company 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.