Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.27 EPS

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.62 by ($0.27), RTT News reports. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 9.22%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

MUR traded down $1.61 during trading on Thursday, reaching $27.57. 2,153,135 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,160,608. The company’s 50-day moving average is $30.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.05. The company has a market cap of $4.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.92 and a beta of 2.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Murphy Oil has a 12-month low of $27.20 and a 12-month high of $49.14.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.325 per share. This is an increase from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.71%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on MUR. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $36.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays decreased their price target on Murphy Oil from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho decreased their price target on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.08.

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.