Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Shares Sold by Quantbot Technologies LP

Quantbot Technologies LP lowered its holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 53.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 55,059 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 62,146 shares during the quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $1,666,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,548,711 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $119,755,000 after buying an additional 45,432 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its position in Murphy Oil by 2.3% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 2,627,701 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $88,659,000 after acquiring an additional 58,220 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Murphy Oil by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,857,702 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $56,214,000 after acquiring an additional 13,263 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 91.6% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,751,737 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $53,008,000 after purchasing an additional 837,282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 26.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,595,260 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $53,824,000 after purchasing an additional 336,372 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu acquired 1,573 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $26.70 per share, with a total value of $41,999.10. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now directly owns 37,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $989,635.50. This trade represents a 4.43 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming bought 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.47 per share, for a total transaction of $1,323,500.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at $24,660,801.97. This trade represents a 5.67 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 5.92% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of MUR opened at $27.30 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.15 and a beta of 2.18. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12 month low of $22.90 and a 12 month high of $49.14. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $27.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.86.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.76%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is currently 48.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MUR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Roth Capital set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.31.

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.