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

Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $36.31.

MUR has been the subject of several research reports. Roth Capital set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $37.00 price target on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 1.5 %

Murphy Oil stock opened at $25.27 on Wednesday. Murphy Oil has a 52 week low of $22.90 and a 52 week high of $49.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.39 and a beta of 2.18. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.53.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted 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 return on equity of 7.66% and a net margin of 13.44%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. Analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.14%. This is a boost from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.33%.

Insider Activity at Murphy Oil

In related news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu bought 1,573 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $26.70 per share, with a total value of $41,999.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president now owns 37,065 shares in the company, valued at $989,635.50. This represents a 4.43 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming bought 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.47 per share, for a total transaction of $1,323,500.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 931,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,660,801.97. The trade was a 5.67 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 5.95% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lindenwold Advisors INC raised its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 3.5% during the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 10,529 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 25,069 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $759,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 32.9% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,903 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 8.1% in the third quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 6,574 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 266.8% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 741 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.