Jones Financial Companies Lllp Acquires 565 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 32.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,284 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 565 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $69,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lindenwold Advisors INC boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 3.5% during the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 10,529 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 25,069 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $759,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 14.5% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,276 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $144,000 after buying an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 49,357 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,494,000 after buying an additional 734 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,881 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $238,000 after buying an additional 1,379 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on MUR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Truist Financial downgraded Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Murphy Oil currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.46.

Insider Transactions at Murphy Oil

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

Murphy Oil Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE MUR opened at $26.73 on Tuesday. 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 moving average price is $28.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.18. Murphy Oil Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.90 and a fifty-two week high of $49.14. The company has a market cap of $3.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.93 and a beta of 2.18.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share 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 company earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

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