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

Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) VP Meenambigai Palanivelu acquired 1,573 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the acquisition, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 2.0 %

NYSE:MUR opened at $26.82 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.36. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.97 and a beta of 2.14. Murphy Oil Co. has a 1-year low of $25.26 and a 1-year high of $49.14.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its earnings results 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 in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.85%. This is a positive change from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.61%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 266.8% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 741 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Murphy Oil during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Murphy Oil in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its position in 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 worth $44,000 after buying an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 106.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,470 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 758 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MUR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price target on Murphy Oil from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Mizuho dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.33.

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.