Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

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

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Murphy Oil from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. KeyCorp raised Murphy Oil from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Wednesday. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.75.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 2.4%

Shares of NYSE:MUR opened at $34.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $38.01 and its 200-day moving average is $35.51. The company has a market cap of $4.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.56 and a beta of 0.50. Murphy Oil has a 52-week low of $21.86 and a 52-week high of $43.34.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.03. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 3.09% and a net margin of 3.02%.The business had revenue of $732.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $702.96 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Murphy Oil will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the first quarter valued at $29,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 14,700.0% in the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 740 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 735 shares during the period. Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 72.9% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,701 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 717 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

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.