HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC Sells 421,568 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 77.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 124,358 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 421,568 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $4,196,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 0.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 101,225 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $4,626,000 after acquiring an additional 939 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 11.1% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 22,872 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,045,000 after buying an additional 2,289 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,859,000. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil in the first quarter valued at $1,700,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Murphy Oil by 21.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,404 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $182,000 after purchasing an additional 784 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MUR shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 18th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho decreased their price target on Murphy Oil from $59.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.92.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of Murphy Oil stock opened at $32.36 on Tuesday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52 week low of $30.99 and a 52 week high of $49.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The business has a 50 day moving average of $33.29 and a 200 day moving average of $37.01. The company has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of 10.44 and a beta of 2.18.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $758.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 period last year, the business earned $1.59 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.71%.

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.