New York State Common Retirement Fund Raises Stock Holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 815,326 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,666 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.56% of Murphy Oil worth $24,672,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund purchased a new position in Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth approximately $188,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth approximately $202,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth approximately $618,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 25.9% during the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 64,570 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,954,000 after purchasing an additional 13,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 201,312 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $6,092,000 after purchasing an additional 6,052 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Claiborne P. Deming purchased 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $26.47 per share, for a total transaction of $1,323,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,660,801.97. This represents a 5.67 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu purchased 1,573 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $26.70 per share, with a total value of $41,999.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 37,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,635.50. This trade represents a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 5.92% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MUR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays reduced their target price on Murphy Oil from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $37.00 target price on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.33.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

NYSE:MUR opened at $27.32 on Friday. Murphy Oil Co. has a one year low of $25.26 and a one year high of $49.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a PE ratio of 10.16 and a beta of 2.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $29.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.56.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.62 by ($0.27). Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 7.66% and a net margin of 13.44%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.325 per share. This is a boost from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.76%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.33%.

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.