Brokerages Set Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Price Target at $47.91

Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $45.55.

MUR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Scotiabank lowered Murphy Oil from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $59.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $49.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of Murphy Oil stock opened at $35.36 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.38. The firm has a market cap of $5.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.85 and a beta of 2.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Murphy Oil has a fifty-two week low of $33.15 and a fifty-two week high of $49.14.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $802.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $813.97 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 11.68% and a net margin of 17.32%. Murphy Oil’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Murphy Oil will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.39%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.43%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Duality Advisers LP grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 364.6% in the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 113,451 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $5,185,000 after purchasing an additional 89,032 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 138.8% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 29,702 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,357,000 after acquiring an additional 17,265 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 280.0% during the 4th quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 72,200 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,080,000 after acquiring an additional 53,201 shares in the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the 4th quarter worth about $16,349,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the 4th quarter worth about $298,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

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.