Marshall Wace LLP Has $467,000 Position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Marshall Wace LLP trimmed its holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 88.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 15,435 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 115,699 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $467,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MUR. Huntington National Bank lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 342.8% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 828 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 641 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 60.5% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,441 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 543 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 32.9% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,903 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings 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 worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Murphy Oil by 353.2% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,358 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 2,617 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 3.1 %

NYSE:MUR opened at $21.76 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.09 and a beta of 1.68. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $23.99 and a 200 day moving average of $28.39. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52 week low of $18.95 and a 52 week high of $45.31.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.97%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on MUR shares. Roth Capital set a $37.00 target price on Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $27.00 target price on Murphy Oil and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Murphy Oil presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.23.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu purchased 1,573 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was bought 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 directly owns 37,065 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,635.50. This represents a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming acquired 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were purchased 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 owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,660,801.97. This represents a 5.67 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 6.52% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Company 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.