Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Shares Sold by Corebridge Financial Inc.

Corebridge Financial Inc. reduced its position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 225,491 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 18,740 shares during the quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc.’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $6,823,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MUR. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted 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 valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth approximately $113,000. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund acquired a new position in Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter worth approximately $188,000. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 67.5% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 6,337 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $192,000 after buying an additional 2,553 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy Oil

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MUR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial cut Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Mizuho cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.92.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 0.2 %

Murphy Oil stock opened at $28.45 on Friday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12 month low of $22.90 and a 12 month high of $49.14. 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 stock has a market cap of $4.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.58 and a beta of 2.18. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.73.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its 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 last year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

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