Prudential Financial Inc. Purchases 44,101 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 8.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 582,131 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,101 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.40% of Murphy Oil worth $17,615,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MUR. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,548,711 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $119,755,000 after acquiring an additional 45,432 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $88,659,000 after purchasing an additional 58,220 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 13,263 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in Murphy Oil by 91.6% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,674,590 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $50,673,000 after buying an additional 283,695 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE MUR opened at $28.49 on Friday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52 week low of $22.90 and a 52 week high of $49.14. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $27.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.77. 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 company has a market cap of $4.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.59 and a beta of 2.18.

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 the consensus estimate 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 company posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.325 per share. This is a boost from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.56%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is presently 48.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MUR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of 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 dropped their target price 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 Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.92.

Insider Transactions at Murphy Oil

In other Murphy Oil news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu acquired 1,573 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were 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 owns 37,065 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,635.50. This trade represents a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming purchased 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.47 per share, for a total transaction of $1,323,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at $24,660,801.97. The trade was a 5.67 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 5.92% of the company’s stock.

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.