Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Short Interest Up 19.8% in February

Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 19,530,000 shares, a growth of 19.8% from the February 13th total of 16,300,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,500,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.8 days. Approximately 14.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of MUR traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $27.03. The company had a trading volume of 716,904 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,766,856. Murphy Oil has a 1 year low of $22.90 and a 1 year high of $49.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.05 and a beta of 2.18. 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.08.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 EPS 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Murphy Oil 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 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.325 dividend. 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 4.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.33%.

Insider Activity at Murphy Oil

In other Murphy Oil news, Director Claiborne P. Deming bought 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of $26.47 per share, with a total value of $1,323,500.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at $24,660,801.97. This trade represents a 5.67 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu bought 1,573 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price 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 approximately $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. 5.92% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the third quarter worth about $1,217,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 0.7% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Prospector Partners LLC increased its position in Murphy Oil by 50.5% during the third quarter. Prospector Partners LLC now owns 307,092 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $10,361,000 after buying an additional 103,092 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 14.5% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 605,557 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $20,431,000 after buying an additional 76,487 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $618,000. 78.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MUR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial cut 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. Roth Capital set a $37.00 target price on Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.31.

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.