Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Price Target Increased to $55.00 by Analysts at Mizuho

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) had its price objective raised by Mizuho from $53.00 to $55.00 in a research note released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Mizuho currently has a buy rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on MUR. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a buy rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Barclays began coverage on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $54.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank cut shares of Murphy Oil from a sector outperform rating to a sector perform rating and raised their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $49.00.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of Murphy Oil stock opened at $45.29 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $6.91 billion, a PE ratio of 10.73 and a beta of 2.21. Murphy Oil has a 12-month low of $32.80 and a 12-month high of $49.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.57.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $844.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $852.24 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 13.02% and a net margin of 19.12%. Murphy Oil’s revenue was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.44%.

Insider Activity at Murphy Oil

In related news, VP Louis W. Utsch sold 30,260 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total transaction of $1,208,584.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 9,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $379,589.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Murphy Oil news, VP Maria A. Martinez sold 10,000 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.35, for a total value of $433,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 40,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,759,576.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Louis W. Utsch sold 30,260 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total transaction of $1,208,584.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 9,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,589.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 156,260 shares of company stock valued at $6,322,644 in the last three months. Company insiders own 5.95% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MUR. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 68.2% in the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 900 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 7,940.0% in the third quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 804 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 794 shares during the period. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. 78.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.