Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) Short Interest Down 16.9% in March

Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of 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. Currently, 8.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,177,971 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.7 days.

Insider Transactions at Murphy Oil

In other Murphy Oil news, SVP Daniel R. Hanchera sold 47,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.79, for a total transaction of $1,598,942.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 36,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,222,049.14. This trade represents a 56.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 6.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SIR Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the third quarter valued at $30,896,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 60.0% in the 3rd 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 buying an additional 794,510 shares in the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the 3rd quarter valued at $21,096,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 21.8% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,736,815 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $106,163,000 after acquiring an additional 668,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 33.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,056,427 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $58,423,000 after acquiring an additional 514,127 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MUR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Johnson Rice raised shares of Murphy Oil from a “hold” rating to an “accumulate” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Barclays upgraded shares of Murphy Oil from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $29.00 to $33.00 in a report on Friday, March 13th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised Murphy Oil from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Murphy Oil currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.36.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Murphy Oil stock traded down $1.62 on Wednesday, reaching $39.64. 1,544,833 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,773,402. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Murphy Oil has a twelve month low of $18.94 and a twelve month high of $42.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $34.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.61. The stock has a market cap of $5.66 billion, a PE ratio of 55.06 and a beta of 0.72.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 3.73% and a net margin of 3.83%.The business had revenue of $613.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $650.90 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. This is a positive change from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is presently 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.