Short Interest in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) Declines By 16.9%

Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) saw a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 11,773,813 shares, a decline of 16.9% from the February 26th total of 14,160,802 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,177,971 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.7 days. Currently, 8.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy Oil

In related news, SVP Daniel R. Hanchera sold 47,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.79, for a total value of $1,598,942.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 36,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,222,049.14. This represents a 56.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 6.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 255.3% in the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 508,012 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $14,433,000 after acquiring an additional 365,011 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 60.0% during the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,119,622 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $60,218,000 after purchasing an additional 794,510 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 21.8% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,736,815 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $106,163,000 after purchasing an additional 668,525 shares during the period. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the third quarter worth approximately $920,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 7.0% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,766,534 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $107,247,000 after purchasing an additional 312,904 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MUR has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $41.00 in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.36.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of Murphy Oil stock opened at $42.02 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $6.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.36 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s 50 day moving average is $33.89 and its 200 day moving average is $31.39. Murphy Oil has a twelve month low of $18.94 and a twelve month high of $42.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.07) by $0.21. The business had revenue of $613.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $650.90 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 3.83% and a return on equity of 3.73%. The firm’s revenue was down 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. This is a boost from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 194.44%.

About Murphy Oil

Murphy Oil Corporation is an independent upstream oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company’s operations encompass conventional onshore and offshore reservoirs, with an emphasis on liquids-rich properties and deepwater assets. Through a combination of proprietary technologies and strategic joint ventures, Murphy Oil seeks to optimize recovery rates and manage its portfolio to balance long-term resource development with operational flexibility.

Murphy Oil’s exploration and production activities are geographically diversified.