State of Alaska Department of Revenue Sells 845 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lowered its stake in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,630 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 845 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $472,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MUR. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 3,191.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,627,268 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $54,904,000 after acquiring an additional 1,577,831 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 399.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,012,944 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $34,177,000 after purchasing an additional 810,104 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,595,260 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $53,824,000 after purchasing an additional 336,372 shares in the last quarter. M&G PLC bought a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the third quarter worth $8,766,000. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC raised its position 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 worth $35,223,000 after buying an additional 231,007 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MUR shares. Barclays decreased their target price on Murphy Oil from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Truist Financial cut shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.33.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of MUR opened at $28.30 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $29.76 and its 200 day moving average is $32.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.77 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 company has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a PE ratio of 10.52 and a beta of 2.14.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. Research analysts expect that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.59%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is 44.61%.

Insider Activity

In other Murphy Oil news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu acquired 1,573 shares of the company’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 acquisition, the vice president now directly owns 37,065 shares in the company, valued at $989,635.50. The trade was a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming bought 50,000 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $26.47 per share, for a total transaction of $1,323,500.00. Following the purchase, the director now 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. Corporate insiders own 5.92% of the company’s stock.

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.