Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Shares Bought by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 255,384 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,691 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.18% of Murphy Oil worth $7,728,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Huntington National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of 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 holdings in Murphy Oil by 60.5% in 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 last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 32.9% during the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,903 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 32.9% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter worth approximately $113,000. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu purchased 1,573 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $26.70 per share, with a total value of $41,999.10. Following the acquisition, the vice president now directly owns 37,065 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,635.50. The trade was a 4.43 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming acquired 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, the director now directly owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at $24,660,801.97. This represents a 5.67 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 6.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MUR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $36.00 to $22.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays reduced their target price on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley set a $27.00 price target on Murphy Oil and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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 note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. 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, Murphy Oil has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.77.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MUR opened at $21.32 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.83. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.36. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52 week low of $18.95 and a 52 week high of $46.91.

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 (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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.10%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is 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.