Meenambigai Palanivelu Buys 1,573 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Stock

Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) VP Meenambigai Palanivelu acquired 1,573 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $26.70 per share, with a total value of $41,999.10. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of MUR stock opened at $26.27 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.77 and a beta of 2.14. Murphy Oil Co. has a twelve month low of $25.26 and a twelve month high of $49.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.46.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by ($0.27). Murphy Oil had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.66%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.95%. This is an increase from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is currently 44.61%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 60.5% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,441 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,846,000. Aigen Investment Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 130.0% in the 4th quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 25,179 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $762,000 after purchasing an additional 14,233 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter valued at about $678,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Murphy Oil by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 904,449 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $27,369,000 after buying an additional 116,552 shares during the period. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MUR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $36.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.33.

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.