Barclays PLC Acquires 9,060 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,022,004 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 9,060 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned 0.70% of Murphy Oil worth $30,925,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 830.2% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 4,614 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $140,000 after acquiring an additional 4,118 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 353.2% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,358 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 2,617 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,807,277 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $84,948,000 after buying an additional 114,656 shares in the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 31.8% during the fourth quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 41,234 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,248,000 after buying an additional 9,939 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in Murphy Oil by 886,485.1% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 594,012 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $17,976,000 after acquiring an additional 593,945 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MUR shares. Morgan Stanley set a $27.00 price target on shares of Murphy Oil and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Roth Capital set a $37.00 target price on Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Claiborne P. Deming acquired 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, the director now directly owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at $24,660,801.97. The trade was a 5.67 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu bought 1,573 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.70 per share, with a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 6.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MUR opened at $21.32 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. The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 1.68. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $25.38 and a 200 day moving average of $29.36. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52 week low of $18.95 and a 52 week high of $46.91.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued 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 return on equity of 7.66% and a net margin of 13.44%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.33%.

Murphy Oil Company Profile

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.