Short Interest in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Increases By 26.1%

Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 16,300,000 shares, an increase of 26.1% from the January 31st total of 12,930,000 shares. Approximately 11.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,220,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.3 days.

Insider Activity

In other Murphy Oil news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu acquired 1,573 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $26.70 per share, for a total transaction of $41,999.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president now directly owns 37,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,635.50. This 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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming bought 50,000 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.47 per share, with a total value of $1,323,500.00. Following the completion of 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 5.92% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Murphy Oil by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,548,711 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $119,755,000 after purchasing an additional 45,432 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,807,277 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $84,948,000 after acquiring an additional 114,656 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 2.3% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 2,627,701 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $88,659,000 after acquiring an additional 58,220 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,234,585 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $67,619,000 after purchasing an additional 107,871 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 61.9% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,147,590 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $64,986,000 after purchasing an additional 821,427 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MUR shares. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Mizuho decreased their target price on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Roth Capital set a $37.00 price target on Murphy Oil in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.31.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

MUR stock traded up $0.92 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $25.08. The stock had a trading volume of 520,425 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,721,539. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.32 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Murphy Oil has a 52 week low of $22.90 and a 52 week high of $49.14.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 7.66% and a net margin of 13.44%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Murphy Oil will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 5.18%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.33%.

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.