Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Downgraded to Underweight Rating by Barclays

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) was downgraded by analysts at Barclays from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $34.00 target price on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would suggest a potential downside of 2.13% from the company’s current price.

MUR has been the topic of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Mizuho raised Murphy Oil to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Murphy Oil from $37.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Wall Street Zen cut Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.50.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of MUR stock opened at $34.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $4.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.20 and a beta of 0.50. Murphy Oil has a 52 week low of $21.86 and a 52 week high of $43.34. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.37.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by ($0.02). Murphy Oil had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 6.63%. The company had revenue of $926.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $888.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 33.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Murphy Oil will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new stake in Murphy Oil during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 14,700.0% in the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 740 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 735 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Torren Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the 2nd quarter valued at $54,000. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.