Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Reaches New 1-Year Low After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) hit a new 52-week low on Monday after Mizuho lowered their price target on the stock from $50.00 to $45.00. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Murphy Oil traded as low as $29.66 and last traded at $29.90, with a volume of 86647 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $30.29.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Murphy Oil from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $36.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Murphy Oil from $55.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Murphy Oil from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Murphy Oil currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.83.

Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MUR. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in Murphy Oil during the third quarter valued at $1,217,000. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 21.2% during the second quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 218,739 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $9,021,000 after purchasing an additional 38,334 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 24.2% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 166,316 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $6,859,000 after purchasing an additional 32,411 shares during the last quarter. Prospector Partners LLC lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 50.5% during the third quarter. Prospector Partners LLC now owns 307,092 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $10,361,000 after purchasing an additional 103,092 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AXA S.A. lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 86.5% during the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 132,710 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,473,000 after purchasing an additional 61,537 shares during the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.28. The stock has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.77 and a beta of 2.18.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.02). Murphy Oil had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $758.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $759.74 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.01%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.71%.

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.