Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $34.92.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MUR shares. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. 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 note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Roth Capital set a $37.00 target price on Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd.

Insider Transactions at Murphy Oil

In other Murphy Oil news, Director Claiborne P. Deming acquired 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost 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 represents a 5.67 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu bought 1,573 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $26.70 per share, with a total value of $41,999.10. Following the acquisition, the vice president now directly owns 37,065 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,635.50. This trade represents a 4.43 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 5.92% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 26.7% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 67,246 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,268,000 after purchasing an additional 14,181 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 24.2% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 18,033 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $608,000 after acquiring an additional 3,516 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 59.9% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 34,032 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,148,000 after acquiring an additional 12,745 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 2.3% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 2,627,701 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $88,659,000 after acquiring an additional 58,220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the third quarter worth about $245,000. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MUR opened at $22.35 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.31 and a beta of 2.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Murphy Oil has a 12 month low of $22.02 and a 12 month high of $49.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $26.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.45.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.62 by ($0.27). Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 7.66% and a net margin of 13.44%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.82%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is 48.33%.

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.