Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Price Target Raised to $54.00 at KeyCorp

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) had its price objective boosted by KeyCorp from $50.00 to $54.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on MUR. UBS Group cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Roth Mkm reissued a buy rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Murphy Oil from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Scotiabank cut Murphy Oil from a sector outperform rating to a sector perform rating and boosted their target price for the company from $46.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on Murphy Oil in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $54.00 target price for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $50.64.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Murphy Oil stock opened at $46.06 on Monday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $7.03 billion, a PE ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 2.21. Murphy Oil has a one year low of $32.80 and a one year high of $49.14. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.62.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $844.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $852.24 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 13.02% and a net margin of 19.12%. Murphy Oil’s quarterly revenue was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy Oil will post 4.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.44%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Louis W. Utsch sold 30,260 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total value of $1,208,584.40. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 9,504 shares in the company, valued at $379,589.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, VP Louis W. Utsch sold 30,260 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total transaction of $1,208,584.40. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 9,504 shares in the company, valued at $379,589.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Maria A. Martinez sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.35, for a total value of $433,500.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 40,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,759,576.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 156,260 shares of company stock worth $6,322,644 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 5.95% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MUR. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Murphy Oil by 3,904.6% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,090,904 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $89,198,000 after acquiring an additional 2,038,692 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Murphy Oil by 34.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,732,172 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $78,554,000 after buying an additional 442,579 shares during the period. Invenomic Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,349,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Murphy Oil by 71.4% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 837,240 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $37,969,000 after buying an additional 348,645 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in Murphy Oil by 60.9% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 837,625 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $37,986,000 after buying an additional 316,960 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Company Profile

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.