Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Shares Bought by Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 108.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,529,528 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 794,730 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 1.05% of Murphy Oil worth $46,284,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its position in Murphy Oil by 60.5% during the fourth 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 during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 32.9% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,284 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter worth approximately $113,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in Murphy Oil in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund acquired a new position in Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth $188,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MUR. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group reduced their price target 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. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price 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. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Murphy Oil has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.92.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

MUR opened at $28.78 on Wednesday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 1 year low of $22.90 and a 1 year high of $49.14. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a PE ratio of 10.70 and a beta of 2.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.83.

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, sell-side analysts expect 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 was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.52%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.33%.

Insider Transactions at Murphy Oil

In related news, Director Claiborne P. Deming acquired 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.47 per share, with a total value of $1,323,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 931,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,660,801.97. This trade represents a 5.67 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu acquired 1,573 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were bought 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 represents a 4.43 % 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.

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.