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

Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) VP Meenambigai Palanivelu acquired 1,573 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost 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 in the company, valued at $989,635.50. This represents a 4.43 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of MUR opened at $26.27 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12-month low of $25.26 and a 12-month high of $49.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a PE ratio of 9.77 and a beta of 2.14. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.46.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 last year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.95%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.61%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 266.8% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 741 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the third quarter worth about $42,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 60.5% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,441 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 106.5% in the third quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,470 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MUR. Barclays cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. KeyCorp dropped 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. Truist Financial cut Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock 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.