Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Has $35.29 Million Position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC raised its position in Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) by 11.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,166,199 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 122,249 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC’s holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $35,289,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 91.6% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,751,737 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $53,008,000 after acquiring an additional 837,282 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 399.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,012,944 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $34,177,000 after purchasing an additional 810,104 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,595,260 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $53,824,000 after purchasing an additional 336,372 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,674,590 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $50,673,000 after purchasing an additional 283,695 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 80.5% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 337,769 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $10,221,000 after buying an additional 150,684 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy Oil

In related news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu acquired 1,573 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.70 per share, with a total value of $41,999.10. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 37,065 shares in the company, valued at $989,635.50. This represents a 4.43 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming acquired 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.47 per share, with a total value of $1,323,500.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at $24,660,801.97. This represents a 5.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 5.92% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

NYSE:MUR opened at $27.30 on Tuesday. Murphy Oil Co. has a 1-year low of $22.90 and a 1-year high of $49.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.15 and a beta of 2.18. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $27.75 and its 200-day moving average is $30.86.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.325 dividend. This is a positive change from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is currently 48.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MUR shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Truist Financial downgraded Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.31.

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.