Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires Shares of 41,200 Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 41,200 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,758,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,816,692 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $762,637,000 after acquiring an additional 137,059 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank bought a new position in Murphy Oil in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,937,000. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 21.1% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 31,974 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,450,000 after acquiring an additional 5,574 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 1.4% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 42,223 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,915,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 0.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 557,463 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $25,281,000 after acquiring an additional 1,629 shares during the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MUR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $54.00 price target on the stock. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy Oil

In other Murphy Oil news, VP Louis W. Utsch sold 30,260 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total value of $1,208,584.40. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 9,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $379,589.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, VP Louis W. Utsch sold 30,260 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total transaction of $1,208,584.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 9,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $379,589.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Roger W. Jenkins sold 110,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $41,811,324.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 156,260 shares of company stock worth $6,322,644. Insiders own 5.92% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MUR opened at $45.21 on Friday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12 month low of $32.80 and a 12 month high of $49.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.59. The firm has a market cap of $6.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.71 and a beta of 2.21.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $844.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $852.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 4.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is currently 28.44%.

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.