Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) shares gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $38.84, but opened at $36.64. Murphy Oil shares last traded at $36.6920, with a volume of 142,732 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on MUR. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research upgraded Murphy Oil from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. KeyCorp upgraded Murphy Oil from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.75.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 5.0%

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market cap of $5.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.73 and a beta of 0.50.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $732.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $702.96 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 3.02% and a return on equity of 3.09%. Murphy Oil’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 237.29%.

Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 2.6% in the first quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 10,954 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,118 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $500,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 11,091 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $347,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 45,662 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,427,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 0.9% during the 4th 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.