Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $31.8182.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MUR shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Friday, January 16th.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of MUR stock opened at $38.16 on Friday. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $18.94 and a fifty-two week high of $38.65. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $33.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.70. The firm has a market cap of $5.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.99 and a beta of 0.72.

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

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. This is an increase from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is 194.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy Oil

In other Murphy Oil news, SVP Daniel R. Hanchera sold 47,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MUR. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 11,091 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $347,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 45,662 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,427,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 49,066 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,533,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Impact Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Impact Capital Partners LLC now owns 15,143 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $473,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in Murphy Oil by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,893 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $434,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares during the period. 78.31% of the stock is owned by 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.