Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) SVP Daniel Hanchera Sells 47,320 Shares
by Mitch Edgeman · The Markets DailyMurphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR – Get Free Report) SVP Daniel Hanchera sold 47,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.79, for a total transaction of $1,598,942.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 36,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,222,049.14. This represents a 56.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.
Murphy Oil Stock Performance
Shares of Murphy Oil stock traded up $0.72 on Thursday, hitting $34.72. 4,840,968 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,583,143. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.96 billion, a PE ratio of 48.22 and a beta of 0.72. Murphy Oil Corporation has a 1 year low of $18.94 and a 1 year high of $36.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.77.
Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.07) by $0.21. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 3.83% and a return on equity of 3.73%. The firm had revenue of $613.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $650.90 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.
Murphy Oil Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This is a boost from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 194.44%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several research firms have recently commented on MUR. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Murphy Oil presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $30.83.
Read Our Latest Report on Murphy Oil
Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil
Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SIR Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,896,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 44.9% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,068,290 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $69,037,000 after purchasing an additional 950,630 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 60.0% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,119,622 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $60,218,000 after buying an additional 794,510 shares in the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in Murphy Oil during the third quarter valued at approximately $21,096,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 33.3% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,056,427 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $58,423,000 after buying an additional 514,127 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.
About Murphy Oil
Murphy Oil Corporation is an independent upstream oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company’s operations encompass conventional onshore and offshore reservoirs, with an emphasis on liquids-rich properties and deepwater assets. Through a combination of proprietary technologies and strategic joint ventures, Murphy Oil seeks to optimize recovery rates and manage its portfolio to balance long-term resource development with operational flexibility.
Murphy Oil’s exploration and production activities are geographically diversified.