Sigma Planning Corp Has $272,000 Stake in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Sigma Planning Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,370 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $272,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 0.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,816,692 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $762,637,000 after purchasing an additional 137,059 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank acquired a new position in Murphy Oil during the third quarter worth $4,937,000. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 21.1% during the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 31,974 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,450,000 after purchasing an additional 5,574 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 1.4% during the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 42,223 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,915,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 0.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 557,463 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $25,281,000 after acquiring an additional 1,629 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on MUR shares. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 29th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Scotiabank cut shares of Murphy Oil from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $46.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.64.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Paul D. Vaughan sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $237,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,447.97. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Paul D. Vaughan sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $237,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,447.97. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Louis W. Utsch sold 30,260 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total transaction of $1,208,584.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 9,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,589.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 156,260 shares of company stock worth $6,322,644. 5.92% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

NYSE:MUR opened at $46.44 on Friday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 52 week low of $32.80 and a 52 week high of $49.14. The firm has a market cap of $7.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 2.21. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $844.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $852.24 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 19.12% and a return on equity of 13.02%. Murphy Oil’s quarterly revenue was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 4.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is presently 28.44%.

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.