Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Several other brokerages have also commented on MUR. Barclays lowered their price objective on Murphy Oil from $31.00 to $29.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Friday, January 16th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Monday, December 29th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $29.58.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Murphy Oil stock opened at $30.07 on Friday. Murphy Oil has a fifty-two week low of $18.94 and a fifty-two week high of $35.19. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market cap of $4.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.76 and a beta of 0.78.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.21. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 3.75% and a net margin of 3.83%.The firm had revenue of $613.08 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $650.90 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,700,148 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $128,253,000 after purchasing an additional 89,382 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 7.0% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,766,534 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $107,247,000 after buying an additional 312,904 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,751,712 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $84,414,000 after buying an additional 118,689 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Murphy Oil by 21.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,736,815 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $106,163,000 after buying an additional 668,525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Murphy Oil by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,656,394 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $75,468,000 after buying an additional 204,349 shares during the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Murphy Oil News

Here are the key news stories impacting Murphy Oil this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 earnings beat on EPS: Murphy reported $0.14/share, beating the consensus loss and surprising to the upside — supportive for near-term earnings sentiment. Earnings Beat
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend hike: Murphy raised its quarterly dividend to $0.35 (7.7% increase) implying a ~4.5% yield — raises cash return to shareholders and supports income-oriented buyers.
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised its price target to $32, reflecting some analyst optimism on valuation/upside. Wells Fargo PT
• Positive Sentiment: Operational upside: Coverage highlighting a successful appraisal well and follow‑on potential could support longer‑term production expectations. Appraisal Well
• Neutral Sentiment: Company disclosures: The full Q4 earnings presentation and transcript are available for investors who want detail on cash flow, capex and guidance; useful for modeling but not a single headline mover. Earnings Transcript Presentation
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported net profit: Local coverage notes a $11.9M quarterly profit — confirms profitability but magnitude is modest relative to market cap. Profit Report
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader industry developments (new offshore deals/discoveries in Morocco and Vietnam) may influence regional exploration sentiment but are not company‑specific catalysts. Morocco Deal Vietnam Discovery
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue miss and market reaction: Q4 revenue came in below estimates, which analysts flagged and which triggered an intra‑day selloff. Revenue Miss
• Negative Sentiment: Barclays downgrade: Barclays cut its rating to “underweight” and lowered its price target to $29, citing downside versus current levels — a clear near‑term headwind for sentiment. Barclays Downgrade TickerReport

Murphy Oil Company Profile

Murphy Oil Corporation is an independent upstream oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company’s operations encompass conventional onshore and offshore reservoirs, with an emphasis on liquids-rich properties and deepwater assets. Through a combination of proprietary technologies and strategic joint ventures, Murphy Oil seeks to optimize recovery rates and manage its portfolio to balance long-term resource development with operational flexibility.

Murphy Oil’s exploration and production activities are geographically diversified.