Venturi Wealth Management LLC Buys Shares of 6,691 Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 6,691 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth about $618,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 25.9% during the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 64,570 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,954,000 after purchasing an additional 13,275 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 201,312 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $6,092,000 after purchasing an additional 6,052 shares during the last quarter. Grace & White Inc. NY grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Grace & White Inc. NY now owns 151,052 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,571,000 after purchasing an additional 9,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of MUR opened at $27.32 on Friday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52-week low of $25.26 and a 52-week high of $49.14. 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 $29.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.56. The firm has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a PE ratio of 10.16 and a beta of 2.14.

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 (EPS) 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. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.76%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is 48.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy Oil

In other news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu bought 1,573 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.70 per share, with a total value of $41,999.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 37,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $989,635.50. This trade represents a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming bought 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $26.47 per share, for a total transaction of $1,323,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 5.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MUR has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays reduced their price target on Murphy Oil from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Mizuho reduced their price target on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Truist Financial lowered Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.33.

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.