Claiborne P. Deming Purchases 50,000 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Stock

Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Director Claiborne P. Deming bought 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.47 per share, for a total transaction of $1,323,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 931,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,660,801.97. This trade represents a 5.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Murphy Oil stock opened at $26.82 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $30.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.36. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12-month low of $25.26 and a 12-month high of $49.14. The stock has a market cap of $3.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.97 and a beta of 2.14.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.85%. This is an increase from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is currently 44.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MUR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $37.00 target price on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Truist Financial lowered shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Murphy Oil presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.33.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Murphy Oil in the third quarter valued at about $1,217,000. Prospector Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 50.5% in the 3rd quarter. Prospector Partners LLC now owns 307,092 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $10,361,000 after acquiring an additional 103,092 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 605,557 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $20,431,000 after acquiring an additional 76,487 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 67,246 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,268,000 after purchasing an additional 14,181 shares during the period. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $796,000. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.