Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Rating Increased to Hold at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Zacks reports.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on MUR. Barclays lowered Murphy Oil from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $38.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Roth Capital restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $41.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.25.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 0.3%

MUR opened at $37.70 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $35.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.66 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Murphy Oil has a one year low of $24.49 and a one year high of $43.34.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $926.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $888.51 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 6.63% and a net margin of 9.74%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is 69.31%.

Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MUR. Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the first quarter worth approximately $29,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 14,700.0% during the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 740 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC purchased a new position in Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Murphy Oil in the second quarter worth $54,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 72.9% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,701 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 717 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.