Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Price Target Raised to $23.00 at Barclays

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) had its price objective boosted by research analysts at Barclays from $22.00 to $23.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “underweight” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Barclays‘s price target indicates a potential downside of 2.36% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on MUR. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company set a $24.00 target price on shares of Murphy Oil and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Roth Capital downgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $27.00 to $25.00 in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $36.00 to $22.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Murphy Oil has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.15.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 3.7%

Shares of Murphy Oil stock traded down $0.92 on Monday, hitting $23.56. 993,928 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,354,625. The company has a market cap of $3.36 billion, a PE ratio of 9.06 and a beta of 1.09. Murphy Oil has a 52 week low of $18.95 and a 52 week high of $43.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $22.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.43.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.08. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 13.47%. The firm had revenue of $665.71 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $684.89 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Murphy Oil will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy Oil

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MUR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 0.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,974,008 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $226,461,000 after buying an additional 35,826 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 210.8% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,610,766 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $159,346,000 after buying an additional 3,805,565 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its position in Murphy Oil by 72.9% in the 1st quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 4,812,267 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $136,668,000 after purchasing an additional 2,029,685 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 29.4% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,633,023 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $103,178,000 after acquiring an additional 825,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 3.6% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,052,273 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $86,685,000 after acquiring an additional 106,720 shares during the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.