Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Barclays Analyst Says

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) had its target price lifted by investment analysts at Barclays from $34.00 to $35.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “underweight” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Barclays‘s price target would suggest a potential downside of 4.98% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on MUR. Zacks Research upgraded Murphy Oil from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings raised Murphy Oil from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 17th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $41.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.83.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 1.4%

MUR stock traded up $0.51 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $36.84. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,060,027 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,602,906. Murphy Oil has a 52 week low of $28.70 and a 52 week high of $45.03. The stock has a market cap of $5.28 billion, a PE ratio of 11.48 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.01.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $849.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $781.53 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 14.90% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 3.63 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Murphy Oil in the 2nd quarter valued at $626,514,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,171,385 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $337,081,000 after purchasing an additional 238,326 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 105.6% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,310,884 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $136,574,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,498 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,836,056 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $75,737,000 after purchasing an additional 60,190 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,571,120 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $64,809,000 after purchasing an additional 6,064 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Company Profile

Murphy Oil Corporation is an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. It explores for and develops crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids, with operations focused on onshore areas of the United States and Canada and offshore areas in the Gulf of Mexico. The company traces its roots to 1950, when it was founded as Murphy Corporation. Over time, Murphy shifted its focus toward exploration and production and expanded its activities internationally, later concentrating its portfolio on North American assets.