Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $36.33.

MUR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial cut Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Mizuho decreased their price target on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 3.6 %

MUR opened at $27.71 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $29.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market cap of $4.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.30 and a beta of 2.14. Murphy Oil has a 12 month low of $25.26 and a 12 month high of $49.14.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by ($0.27). Murphy Oil had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.66%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Murphy Oil will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.69%. This is a boost from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Murphy Oil news, Director Claiborne P. Deming bought 50,000 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.47 per share, for a total transaction of $1,323,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 931,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,660,801.97. This trade represents a 5.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu bought 1,573 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $26.70 per share, with a total value of $41,999.10. Following the transaction, the vice president now 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 5.92% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Murphy Oil

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MUR. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,577,831 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 91.6% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 837,282 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 399.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 810,104 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 108.2% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,529,528 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $46,284,000 after acquiring an additional 794,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 641.7% during the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 672,717 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $22,697,000 after acquiring an additional 582,020 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Company 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.