Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,400,000 shares, a decrease of 17.9% from the August 15th total of 5,360,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,610,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days. Approximately 3.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.30, for a total transaction of $4,330,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,499,831 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,942,682.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, VP John B. Gardner sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.95, for a total transaction of $429,500.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 19,895 shares in the company, valued at $854,490.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.30, for a total value of $4,330,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,499,831 shares in the company, valued at $64,942,682.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 5.92% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Murphy Oil in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Murphy Oil by 68.2% in the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 900 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its stake in Murphy Oil by 70.5% in the 2nd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 885 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter worth about $48,000. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new position in Murphy Oil in the 1st quarter worth about $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MUR shares. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $60.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Monday, July 24th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 28th. UBS Group increased their target price on Murphy Oil from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Murphy Oil in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.90.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

NYSE:MUR opened at $45.26 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $43.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.34. The firm has a market cap of $7.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.01 and a beta of 2.39. Murphy Oil has a 52-week low of $31.90 and a 52-week high of $51.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $814.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $779.77 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 15.09% and a net margin of 25.86%. Murphy Oil’s revenue was down 26.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Murphy Oil will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 14th were issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 11th. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is currently 17.03%.

About Murphy Oil

Murphy Oil Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an oil and natural 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.