Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Rating Increased to Hold at Wall Street Zen

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

MUR has been the subject of a number of other reports. Mizuho increased their price target on Murphy Oil from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Murphy Oil from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Roth Capital reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $29.08.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

MUR opened at $33.34 on Friday. Murphy Oil has a 1 year low of $18.94 and a 1 year high of $34.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $4.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.02 and a beta of 0.81. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $29.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.55.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 21st. The oil and gas producer reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 5.16% and a return on equity of 4.30%. The firm had revenue of $440.08 million for the quarter. As a group, analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th were given a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is 132.65%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy Oil

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MUR. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 74,510 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,116,000 after purchasing an additional 10,124 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 2.6% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,463,459 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $41,562,000 after buying an additional 37,753 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the first quarter worth about $16,189,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 252.3% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 118,675 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,370,000 after acquiring an additional 84,985 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new stake in Murphy Oil during the first quarter valued at $269,000. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

About Murphy Oil

Murphy Oil Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an oil and gas exploration and production company in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It explores for and produces crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. The company was formerly known as Murphy Corporation and changed its name to Murphy Oil Corporation in 1964.