Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Shares Sold by Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund trimmed its position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,902 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $844,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MUR. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 837,282 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 399.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,012,944 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $34,177,000 after acquiring an additional 810,104 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 26.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,595,260 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $53,824,000 after acquiring an additional 336,372 shares during the period. M&G PLC acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the third quarter worth about $8,766,000. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 28.4% during the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 1,043,950 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $35,223,000 after acquiring an additional 231,007 shares during the period. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu acquired 1,573 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 37,065 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,635.50. This represents a 4.43 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming acquired 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $26.47 per share, with a total value of $1,323,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 931,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,660,801.97. The trade was a 5.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 5.92% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE MUR opened at $26.48 on Friday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12-month low of $25.26 and a 12-month high of $49.14. The company has a market capitalization of $3.86 billion, a PE ratio of 9.84 and a beta of 2.14. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $29.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.19.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.91%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is currently 48.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MUR. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Roth Capital set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial downgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.38.

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.