Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Holdings Decreased by Teza Capital Management LLC

Teza Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 54.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,895 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 27,319 shares during the period. Teza Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $693,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 200,816 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $6,077,000 after purchasing an additional 26,151 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $144,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter worth approximately $459,000. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 39.4% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 46,815 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,417,000 after buying an additional 13,222 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the 4th quarter valued at $549,000. 78.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MUR. Morgan Stanley set a $27.00 price objective on Murphy Oil and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Monday, April 21st. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Murphy Oil from $36.00 to $22.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Mizuho downgraded Murphy Oil from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $31.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.31.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of MUR stock opened at $21.62 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.53. Murphy Oil Co. has a twelve month low of $18.95 and a twelve month high of $43.44. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.04 and a beta of 1.10.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.08. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 7.66% and a net margin of 13.44%. The company had revenue of $665.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $684.89 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.325 per share. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is 50.00%.

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.