Martingale Asset Management L P Acquires New Stake in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Martingale Asset Management L P bought a new position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 25,990 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $786,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Huntington National Bank boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 342.8% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 828 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 641 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 60.5% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,441 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 32.9% during the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,903 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 32.9% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,284 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $113,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.15.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

NYSE MUR opened at $20.90 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. The company has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.77 and a beta of 1.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $26.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.78. Murphy Oil Co. has a 1-year low of $18.95 and a 1-year high of $48.64.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is currently 48.33%.

Insider Activity at Murphy Oil

In other news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu purchased 1,573 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.70 per share, for a total transaction of $41,999.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president now directly owns 37,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $989,635.50. The trade was a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming purchased 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $26.47 per share, with a total value of $1,323,500.00. Following the acquisition, 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 5.92% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.