Signaturefd LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 144.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,695 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 4,552 shares during the quarter. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $233,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised 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 buying an additional 543 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter valued at $113,000. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,276 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the 3rd quarter worth $200,000. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu purchased 1,573 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $26.70 per share, for a total transaction of $41,999.10. Following the transaction, the vice president now 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 purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming acquired 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.47 per share, with a total value of $1,323,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,660,801.97. This trade represents a 5.67 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 5.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on MUR shares. 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 research report on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial cut shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays cut their target price on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.31.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of MUR opened at $26.73 on Friday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 1-year low of $22.90 and a 1-year high of $49.14. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.93 and a beta of 2.18. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.86%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.33%.

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.