Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Hits New 52-Week Low – Time to Sell?

Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) hit a new 52-week low on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $32.53 and last traded at $32.72, with a volume of 109740 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $33.21.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MUR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Murphy Oil from $44.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays lowered their target price on Murphy Oil from $46.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.17.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 2.4 %

The stock has a market cap of $4.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.25 and a beta of 2.20. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.08. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 11.68% and a net margin of 17.32%. The business had revenue of $802.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $813.97 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.70%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.43%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Murphy Oil by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,254,125 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $340,400,000 after purchasing an additional 262,256 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 7.7% in the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,737,409 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $125,100,000 after buying an additional 195,906 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 5.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,138,985 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $88,212,000 after buying an additional 107,462 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Murphy Oil by 3,191.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,627,268 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $54,904,000 after buying an additional 1,577,831 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in Murphy Oil by 23.0% during the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,132,305 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $51,746,000 after acquiring an additional 212,100 shares during the period. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.