Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on MUR. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Friday, January 16th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Murphy Oil from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $29.42.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

MUR opened at $34.78 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.30 and a beta of 0.72. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $32.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.73. Murphy Oil has a 1 year low of $18.94 and a 1 year high of $35.27. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.14 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $650.90 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 3.73% and a net margin of 3.83%.Murphy Oil’s quarterly revenue was down 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. This is an increase from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is 194.44%.

Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 84,061 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,387,000 after acquiring an additional 1,419 shares during the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the first quarter valued at $265,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 22.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 249,094 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $7,074,000 after purchasing an additional 45,841 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 5.8% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 64,389 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,449,000 after purchasing an additional 3,531 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 107.8% during the 2nd quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 40,654 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $915,000 after buying an additional 21,092 shares during the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.