Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Acquires 794,730 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 108.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,529,528 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after buying an additional 794,730 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 1.05% of Murphy Oil worth $46,284,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MUR. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 20,146 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $610,000 after purchasing an additional 1,778 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter valued at $3,148,000. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the 4th quarter worth about $343,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 28.9% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 163,943 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $4,961,000 after purchasing an additional 36,749 shares during the period. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter valued at about $477,000. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MUR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial downgraded Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price target for the company from $42.00 to $31.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price 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, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $34.92.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy Oil

In related news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu bought 1,573 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $26.70 per share, with a total value of $41,999.10. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 37,065 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,635.50. This trade represents a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming purchased 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.47 per share, with a total value of $1,323,500.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 931,651 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $24,660,801.97. This trade represents a 5.67 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 5.92% of the company's stock.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of MUR stock traded down $3.06 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $22.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,886,695 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,925,566. Murphy Oil Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.03 and a fifty-two week high of $49.14. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $27.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.56. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.31 and a beta of 2.18.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.66%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Murphy Oil's payout ratio is 48.33%.

About Murphy Oil

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.