Magnetar Financial LLC Purchases 21,438 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Magnetar Financial LLC raised its position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 13.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 185,171 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,438 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $5,603,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MUR. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in Murphy Oil by 91.6% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,751,737 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $53,008,000 after purchasing an additional 837,282 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 399.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,012,944 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $34,177,000 after buying an additional 810,104 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 26.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,595,260 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $53,824,000 after buying an additional 336,372 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 28.4% in the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 1,043,950 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $35,223,000 after buying an additional 231,007 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 80.5% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 337,769 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $10,221,000 after buying an additional 150,684 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu acquired 1,573 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.70 per share, with a total value of $41,999.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 37,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $989,635.50. This trade represents a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming acquired 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.47 per share, for a total transaction of $1,323,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 5.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MUR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Roth Capital set a $37.00 price target on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler reduced 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. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial cut shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced 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 assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Murphy Oil has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.31.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

NYSE MUR opened at $27.11 on Thursday. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $28.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.08. Murphy Oil Co. has a 1 year low of $22.90 and a 1 year high of $49.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.08 and a beta of 2.18.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 is a positive change from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is 48.33%.

Murphy Oil 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.