Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 5,553 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its stake in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 27.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,838 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 5,553 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $449,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,353 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $132,000 after buying an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 437,088 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $13,226,000 after purchasing an additional 8,731 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 227,680 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $6,890,000 after purchasing an additional 34,620 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors bought a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $219,000. Finally, Bryce Point Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $501,000. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Murphy Oil

In other news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu purchased 1,573 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.70 per share, with a total value of $41,999.10. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now directly owns 37,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $989,635.50. This trade represents a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming acquired 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $26.47 per share, for a total transaction of $1,323,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,660,801.97. This trade represents a 5.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 6.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 3.6 %

MUR stock opened at $21.32 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.83. The business’s 50-day moving average is $25.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.45. Murphy Oil Co. has a fifty-two week low of $18.95 and a fifty-two week high of $46.91.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.10%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MUR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Truist Financial lowered Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $36.00 to $22.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $37.00 target price on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Murphy Oil presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.77.

About Murphy Oil

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.