Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Has $54.63 Million Stock Holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,805,201 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 12,740 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 1.24% of Murphy Oil worth $54,625,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MUR. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 266.8% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 741 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in Murphy Oil by 32.9% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,284 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth about $113,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 14.5% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,276 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $144,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the 4th quarter worth approximately $188,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Claiborne P. Deming bought 50,000 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,660,801.97. This trade represents a 5.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu bought 1,573 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $26.70 per share, with a total value of $41,999.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president now owns 37,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,635.50. The trade was a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 5.95% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

MUR stock opened at $24.86 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.49. 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 $3.63 billion, a PE ratio of 9.24 and a beta of 2.18.

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 (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 period in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.325 dividend. This is a boost from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is presently 48.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MUR. Roth Capital set a $37.00 price target on Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.46.

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.