Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday. The stock traded as high as $45.03 and last traded at $44.0520, with a volume of 1,543,682 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $44.34.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Barclays cut Murphy Oil from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $38.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Friday, August 14th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Murphy Oil from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Murphy Oil from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.92.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 0.9%

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $37.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.04 and a beta of 0.59.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $926.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $888.51 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 6.63% and a net margin of 9.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 33.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 3.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 16th will be given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 16th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is 69.31%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new stake in Murphy Oil in the first quarter worth about $29,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 14,700.0% in the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 740 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 735 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the 3rd quarter worth $44,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Murphy Oil during the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in Murphy Oil in the third quarter valued at about $51,000. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

About Murphy Oil

Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) is an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Its activities include identifying, acquiring, developing and producing crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids, with a focus on high-quality assets in North America.

The company’s operations are primarily located in the United States, including onshore assets in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas and offshore properties in the Gulf of Mexico. Murphy Oil has also historically maintained exploration and production interests in Canada and other international regions, although its current portfolio is concentrated in the United States.

Founded in 1950, Murphy Oil has evolved from a diversified energy company into a focused exploration and production business.