Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $49.00.

Several analysts recently weighed in on MUR shares. Barclays started coverage on Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $54.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Murphy Oil from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Maria A. Martinez sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.35, for a total transaction of $433,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 40,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,759,576.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, VP Maria A. Martinez sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.35, for a total transaction of $433,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 40,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,759,576.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Paul D. Vaughan sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $237,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,447.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 156,260 shares of company stock valued at $6,322,644 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 5.92% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy Oil

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUR. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 73.5% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 21,212 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $857,000 after acquiring an additional 8,987 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 45.2% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 15,252 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $616,000 after purchasing an additional 4,749 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 22.5% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 10,669 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $431,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 2.2% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 446,302 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $18,026,000 after purchasing an additional 9,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 10.5% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 53,213 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,149,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of MUR stock opened at $45.21 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Murphy Oil has a twelve month low of $32.80 and a twelve month high of $49.14. The company has a market cap of $6.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.71 and a beta of 2.21. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.59.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.10). Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 13.02% and a net margin of 19.12%. The business had revenue of $844.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $852.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. Murphy Oil’s quarterly revenue was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy Oil will post 4.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.44%.

About Murphy Oil

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.