Royce & Associates LP Invests $206,000 in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Royce & Associates LP bought a new position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 6,810 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 63.4% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 312,072 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $9,444,000 after acquiring an additional 121,099 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc acquired a new position in Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth approximately $338,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in Murphy Oil by 80.5% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 337,769 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $10,221,000 after buying an additional 150,684 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its position in Murphy Oil by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 12,805 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $387,000 after buying an additional 948 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in Murphy Oil by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 35,926 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,087,000 after buying an additional 885 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 0.4 %

Murphy Oil stock opened at $26.73 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $22.90 and a 1-year high of $49.14. The company has a market cap of $3.90 billion, a PE ratio of 9.93 and a beta of 2.18. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $27.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.98.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.325 per share. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.86%. This is an increase from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is presently 48.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MUR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial lowered Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp cut their price target on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $37.00 price target on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Barclays cut their price target on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Roth Capital set a $37.00 target price on Murphy Oil in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Murphy Oil has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.31.

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.