Contrasting Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) & Cross Timbers Royalty Trust (NYSE:CRT)

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) and Cross Timbers Royalty Trust (NYSE:CRT) are both energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations and risk.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Murphy Oil and Cross Timbers Royalty Trust”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Murphy Oil	$2.72 billion	1.99	$104.23 million	$2.02	18.67
Cross Timbers Royalty Trust	$5.79 million	12.31	$6.15 million	$0.53	22.41

Murphy Oil has higher revenue and earnings than Cross Timbers Royalty Trust. Murphy Oil is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cross Timbers Royalty Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

78.3% of Murphy Oil shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.7% of Cross Timbers Royalty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.8% of Murphy Oil shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 9.4% of Cross Timbers Royalty Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Murphy Oil has a beta of 0.59, suggesting that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cross Timbers Royalty Trust has a beta of 0.01, suggesting that its share price is 99% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Murphy Oil and Cross Timbers Royalty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Murphy Oil	9.74%	6.63%	3.51%
Cross Timbers Royalty Trust	74.04%	147.68%	81.96%

Dividends

Murphy Oil pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Cross Timbers Royalty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.77 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.5%. Murphy Oil pays out 69.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cross Timbers Royalty Trust pays out 145.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Murphy Oil has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Murphy Oil and Cross Timbers Royalty Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Murphy Oil	3	9	4	0	2.06
Cross Timbers Royalty Trust	0	1	0	0	2.00

Murphy Oil presently has a consensus target price of $37.83, indicating a potential upside of 0.33%. Given Murphy Oil’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Murphy Oil is more favorable than Cross Timbers Royalty Trust.

Summary

Murphy Oil beats Cross Timbers Royalty Trust on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

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. The company was incorporated in 1950 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Cross Timbers Royalty Trust

Cross Timbers Royalty Trust operates as an express trust in the United States. It holds 90% net profits interests in certain producing and nonproducing royalty and overriding royalty interest properties in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico; and 75% net profits working interest in four properties in Texas and three properties in Oklahoma. The company was founded in 1991 and is based in Dallas, Texas.