Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have assigned a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $37.75.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler raised shares of Murphy Oil from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Murphy Oil from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 13th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MUR. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 84,061 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,387,000 after buying an additional 1,419 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association purchased a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $265,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 22.6% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 249,094 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $7,074,000 after buying an additional 45,841 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,471 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $708,000 after buying an additional 2,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 437.8% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,802 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 3,095 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MUR opened at $34.41 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.33 and a beta of 0.50. Murphy Oil has a 12 month low of $21.86 and a 12 month high of $43.34. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $732.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $702.96 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 3.02% and a return on equity of 3.09%. The business’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. Analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 3.49 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 237.29%.

About Murphy Oil

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.