Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Decreases Stock Position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System decreased its position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 41,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 800 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $1,691,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the second quarter worth about $216,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $421,000. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 121,742 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,021,000 after purchasing an additional 6,341 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 90.5% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,092,374 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $45,050,000 after purchasing an additional 518,904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TruWealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $271,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MUR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Murphy Oil from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.91.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of MUR opened at $38.26 on Friday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12 month low of $35.61 and a 12 month high of $49.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $39.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.73. The company has a market cap of $5.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.66 and a beta of 2.25.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $802.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $813.97 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 11.75%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.43%.

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.