Duality Advisers LP Sells 24,987 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Duality Advisers LP cut its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 50.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 24,419 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 24,987 shares during the period. Duality Advisers LP’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $1,042,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MUR. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $622,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 35,053 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,495,000 after acquiring an additional 3,039 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,758,000. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Murphy Oil by 30.1% during the 4th quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 188,512 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $8,042,000 after purchasing an additional 43,580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benin Management CORP lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Benin Management CORP now owns 9,414 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the period. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Barclays initiated coverage on Murphy Oil in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $54.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Murphy Oil from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank cut Murphy Oil from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $46.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.64.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 0.2 %

Murphy Oil stock opened at $46.16 on Wednesday. Murphy Oil Co. has a one year low of $32.80 and a one year high of $49.14. The company has a market cap of $7.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.94 and a beta of 2.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $43.32 and a 200-day moving average of $42.62.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.10). Murphy Oil had a net margin of 19.12% and a return on equity of 13.02%. The firm had revenue of $844.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $852.24 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Murphy Oil Co. will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Paul D. Vaughan sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total transaction of $237,660.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,447.97. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, VP Paul D. Vaughan sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total transaction of $237,660.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 11,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,447.97. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Roger W. Jenkins sold 110,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.39, for a total transaction of $4,442,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,035,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,811,324.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 156,260 shares of company stock worth $6,322,644 in the last quarter. 5.95% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.