Prudential Financial Inc. Purchases 44,101 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 582,131 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,101 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $17,615,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 26.7% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 67,246 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,268,000 after purchasing an additional 14,181 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 24.2% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 18,033 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $608,000 after buying an additional 3,516 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 59.9% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 34,032 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,148,000 after buying an additional 12,745 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 2,627,701 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $88,659,000 after buying an additional 58,220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in Murphy Oil during the 3rd quarter valued at $245,000. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Roth Capital set a $37.00 target price on Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho decreased their price target on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial lowered shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.92.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Claiborne P. Deming acquired 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was 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 trade represents a 5.67 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu bought 1,573 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $26.70 per share, for a total transaction of $41,999.10. Following the acquisition, the vice president now directly owns 37,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,635.50. The trade was a 4.43 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 5.92% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 0.5 %

MUR opened at $28.49 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.77. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52 week low of $22.90 and a 52 week high of $49.14. 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 stock has a market cap of $4.16 billion, a PE ratio of 10.59 and a beta of 2.18.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 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 in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.56%. This is a positive change 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%.

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.