Sei Investments Co. Purchases 88,072 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 23.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 466,477 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 88,072 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $14,116,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 67,246 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,268,000 after acquiring an additional 14,181 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 24.2% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 18,033 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $608,000 after purchasing an additional 3,516 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 59.9% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 34,032 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,148,000 after purchasing an additional 12,745 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 2.3% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 2,627,701 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $88,659,000 after purchasing an additional 58,220 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in Murphy Oil during the 3rd quarter worth about $245,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu acquired 1,573 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was purchased 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 $989,635.50. This trade represents a 4.43 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming bought 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.47 per share, for a total transaction of $1,323,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 931,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,660,801.97. The trade was 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MUR shares. Roth Capital set a $37.00 price target on Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.92.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

MUR stock opened at $28.45 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 capitalization of $4.15 billion, a PE ratio of 10.58 and a beta of 2.18. The company’s 50-day moving average is $27.36 and its 200-day moving average is $30.73. 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 announced 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 period last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.325 per share. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is 48.33%.

Murphy Oil 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.