Fisher Asset Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Fisher Asset Management LLC reduced its position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,270,758 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 18,247 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned about 0.87% of Murphy Oil worth $38,453,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MUR. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 266.8% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 741 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 90.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,758 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 833 shares during the last quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Murphy Oil during the 4th quarter valued at about $113,000. KBC Group NV raised its position in Murphy Oil by 14.5% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,276 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $144,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter valued at about $188,000. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Murphy Oil news, Director Claiborne P. Deming acquired 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 purchase, the director now directly owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at $24,660,801.97. This represents a 5.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu acquired 1,573 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $26.70 per share, with a total value of $41,999.10. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 37,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,635.50. This represents a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 5.92% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of MUR stock opened at $26.48 on Monday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 1-year low of $25.26 and a 1-year high of $49.14. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.15. The firm has a market cap of $3.86 billion, a P/E 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.

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 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 quarter last year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MUR. Truist Financial cut shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group cut their price target on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Mizuho dropped 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. Finally, Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Monday, February 3rd. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.