Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

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

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on MUR. KeyCorp raised shares of Murphy Oil from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $48.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Roth Mkm reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $36.00 target price on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.75.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Murphy Oil stock opened at $38.77 on Friday. Murphy Oil has a 52 week low of $21.86 and a 52 week high of $43.34. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $38.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market cap of $5.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.71 and a beta of 0.50.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.03. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 3.02% and a return on equity of 3.09%. The firm had revenue of $732.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $702.96 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Murphy Oil will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new position in Murphy Oil in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 14,700.0% in the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 740 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 735 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC purchased a new position in Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 67.3% during the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,094 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Torren Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

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.