Jennison Associates LLC Sells 7,362 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Jennison Associates LLC lowered its stake in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 15.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,533 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 7,362 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $1,729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Headinvest LLC purchased a new stake in Murphy Oil during the third quarter valued at about $70,000. Forum Financial Management LP bought a new position in Murphy Oil during the third quarter worth about $209,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the third quarter worth about $213,000. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group purchased a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the third quarter worth about $214,000. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 0.0 %

MUR stock opened at $46.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.09 billion, a PE ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 2.21. 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 Co. has a one year low of $32.80 and a one year high of $49.14. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $43.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.70.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.10). Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 13.02% and a net margin of 19.12%. The business had revenue of $844.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $852.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. Murphy Oil’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Murphy Oil

In other Murphy Oil news, VP Louis W. Utsch sold 30,260 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total value of $1,208,584.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 9,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $379,589.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Roger W. Jenkins sold 110,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.39, for a total transaction of $4,442,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,035,190 shares in the company, valued at $41,811,324.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Louis W. Utsch sold 30,260 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total value of $1,208,584.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 9,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $379,589.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 156,260 shares of company stock worth $6,322,644 in the last ninety days. 5.92% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MUR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Scotiabank cut Murphy Oil from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Murphy Oil from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Murphy Oil presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.64.

Murphy Oil 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.