Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Sets New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $43.12 and last traded at $43.0640, with a volume of 85125 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $41.68.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MUR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Friday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Barclays raised shares of Murphy Oil from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Murphy Oil from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.36.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 3.2%

The firm has a market cap of $6.17 billion, a PE ratio of 59.65 and a beta of 0.59. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $35.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.07) by $0.21. The business had revenue of $613.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $650.90 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 3.83% and a return on equity of 3.73%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is currently 194.44%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Daniel R. Hanchera sold 47,320 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.79, for a total value of $1,598,942.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 36,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,222,049.14. The trade was a 56.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 6.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 255.3% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 508,012 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $14,433,000 after buying an additional 365,011 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 60.0% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,119,622 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $60,218,000 after purchasing an additional 794,510 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 21.8% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,736,815 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $106,163,000 after purchasing an additional 668,525 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the third quarter valued at approximately $920,000. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 512.1% in the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 69,948 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,987,000 after purchasing an additional 58,521 shares during the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.