Bessemer Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 886,485.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 594,012 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after acquiring an additional 593,945 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. owned approximately 0.41% of Murphy Oil worth $17,976,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,548,711 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $119,755,000 after buying an additional 45,432 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,857,702 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $56,214,000 after buying an additional 13,263 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 91.6% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,751,737 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $53,008,000 after purchasing an additional 837,282 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,674,590 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $50,673,000 after acquiring an additional 283,695 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Murphy Oil by 26.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,595,260 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $53,824,000 after acquiring an additional 336,372 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $27.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $36.00 to $22.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. 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 report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $32.77.

Insider Activity

In other Murphy Oil news, Director Claiborne P. Deming bought 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 purchase, the director now directly owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at $24,660,801.97. The trade was a 5.67 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu purchased 1,573 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.70 per share, for a total transaction of $41,999.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president now directly owns 37,065 shares of the company's stock, valued at $989,635.50. The trade was a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 6.52% of the company's stock.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 4.8 %

NYSE:MUR traded up $0.96 on Wednesday, reaching $21.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 978,053 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,026,599. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $25.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.60. Murphy Oil Co. has a 12-month low of $18.95 and a 12-month high of $46.91. The firm has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.84 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 posted $0.90 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Murphy Oil's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.