Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Price Target Raised to $28.00

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) had its target price raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $26.00 to $28.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

MUR has been the topic of several other research reports. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Murphy Oil from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $28.50.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of Murphy Oil stock opened at $30.44 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.77 and a beta of 0.99. Murphy Oil has a 12-month low of $18.94 and a 12-month high of $34.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.17.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 21st. The oil and gas producer reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $440.08 million during the quarter. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 10.20% and a return on equity of 5.25%. Research analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 132.65%.

Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 34.6% in the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 12,893 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $366,000 after acquiring an additional 3,317 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC raised its holdings in Murphy Oil by 489.1% in the 1st quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 399,104 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $11,335,000 after buying an additional 331,355 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 11.4% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 134,575 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,851,000 after purchasing an additional 13,759 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 8,530.7% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,763,345 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $50,079,000 after purchasing an additional 1,742,914 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 251.3% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 13,001 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $369,000 after purchasing an additional 9,300 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.