Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Price Target Raised to $55.00

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) had its price target boosted by equities research analysts at Piper Sandler from $49.00 to $55.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price indicates a potential upside of 19.59% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on MUR. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Scotiabank downgraded Murphy Oil from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $46.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho upped their price target on Murphy Oil from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.50.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Murphy Oil stock opened at $45.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.02 billion, a PE ratio of 10.90 and a beta of 2.21. Murphy Oil has a 1-year low of $32.80 and a 1-year high of $49.14. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.59.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.10). Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 13.02% and a net margin of 19.12%. The company had revenue of $844.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $852.24 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Murphy Oil

In other Murphy Oil news, CEO Roger W. Jenkins sold 110,000 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.39, for a total value of $4,442,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,035,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,811,324.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, VP Maria A. Martinez sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.35, for a total transaction of $433,500.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 40,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,759,576.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Roger W. Jenkins sold 110,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.39, for a total value of $4,442,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,035,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,811,324.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 156,260 shares of company stock valued at $6,322,644 over the last 90 days. 5.92% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 73.5% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 21,212 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $857,000 after purchasing an additional 8,987 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 45.2% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 15,252 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $616,000 after acquiring an additional 4,749 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 22.5% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 10,669 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $431,000 after acquiring an additional 1,961 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in Murphy Oil by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 446,302 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $18,026,000 after acquiring an additional 9,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its position in Murphy Oil by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 53,213 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,149,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075 shares during the last quarter. 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.