California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 14,756 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 274,531 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 14,756 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.18% of Murphy Oil worth $11,711,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MUR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 0.8% during 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 buying an additional 137,059 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 5.0% during the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,566,887 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $116,408,000 after buying an additional 121,795 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 3,904.6% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,090,904 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $89,198,000 after buying an additional 2,038,692 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 5.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,946,095 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $88,255,000 after buying an additional 99,427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 34.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,732,172 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $78,554,000 after buying an additional 442,579 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Maria A. Martinez sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.35, for a total transaction of $433,500.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 40,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,759,576.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Murphy Oil news, VP Maria A. Martinez sold 10,000 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.35, for a total value of $433,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 40,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,759,576.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Roger W. Jenkins sold 110,000 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,035,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,811,324.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 156,260 shares of company stock worth $6,322,644. Company insiders own 5.95% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 1.1 %

MUR opened at $44.17 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Murphy Oil Co. has a 1-year low of $32.80 and a 1-year high of $49.14. The company has a market capitalization of $6.74 billion, a PE ratio of 10.47 and a beta of 2.21. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.68.

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 given 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 2.72%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is presently 28.44%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Scotiabank cut shares of Murphy Oil from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $50.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.64.

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.