Proficio Capital Partners LLC Invests $678,000 in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 22,392 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $678,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 25,069 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $759,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 32.9% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,284 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 49,357 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,494,000 after purchasing an additional 734 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,881 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 1,379 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 7.5% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 23,282 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,618 shares during the period. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Murphy Oil news, Director Claiborne P. Deming bought 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 purchase, the director now directly owns 931,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,660,801.97. This represents a 5.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu acquired 1,573 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 purchase, the vice president now owns 37,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $989,635.50. The trade was a 4.43 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 5.92% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of MUR opened at $26.73 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 billion, a PE ratio of 9.93 and a beta of 2.18. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12 month low of $22.90 and a 12 month high of $49.14. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $27.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.94. 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 (NYSE:MUR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 7.66% and a net margin of 13.44%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.86%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is currently 48.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MUR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.31.

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.