Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Shares Sold by Corebridge Financial Inc.

Corebridge Financial Inc. cut its holdings in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 225,491 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 18,740 shares during the period. Corebridge Financial Inc. owned 0.15% of Murphy Oil worth $6,823,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in Murphy Oil by 60.5% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,441 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 32.9% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,284 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter valued at $113,000. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the 4th quarter valued at $188,000. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 67.5% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 6,337 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $192,000 after buying an additional 2,553 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Claiborne P. Deming acquired 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu purchased 1,573 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $26.70 per share, for a total transaction of $41,999.10. Following the purchase, 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 5.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MUR has been the subject of a number of research reports. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial downgraded Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $42.00 to $31.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Roth Capital set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.92.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of MUR opened at $28.45 on Friday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52 week low of $22.90 and a 52 week high of $49.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market cap of $4.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.58 and a beta of 2.18. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $27.36 and a 200-day moving average of $30.73.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.325 per share. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.57%. This is a boost from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.