Twin Tree Management LP Acquires New Shares in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Twin Tree Management LP acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 40,659 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,230,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,548,711 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $119,755,000 after purchasing an additional 45,432 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 valued at $88,659,000 after purchasing an additional 58,220 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 13,263 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 91.6% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,751,737 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $53,008,000 after acquiring an additional 837,282 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 26.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,595,260 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $53,824,000 after acquiring an additional 336,372 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MUR shares. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Truist Financial cut Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.31.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

NYSE:MUR opened at $26.12 on Wednesday. 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 50 day moving average price is $28.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.71 and a beta of 2.18. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12-month low of $22.90 and a 12-month high of $49.14.

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 (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 period in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.98%. This is a positive change from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.33%.

Insider Transactions at Murphy Oil

In other news, Director Claiborne P. Deming bought 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of $26.47 per share, for a total transaction of $1,323,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,660,801.97. This trade represents a 5.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu bought 1,573 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $26.70 per share, for a total transaction of $41,999.10. Following the purchase, the vice president now owns 37,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $989,635.50. This trade represents a 4.43 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 5.92% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.