Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Given New $38.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) had its price objective increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $32.00 to $38.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on MUR. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Murphy Oil from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Roth Mkm reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Barclays upgraded shares of Murphy Oil from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $29.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Murphy Oil from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.36.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 4.5%

NYSE MUR opened at $41.77 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $33.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a PE ratio of 58.01 and a beta of 0.72. Murphy Oil has a fifty-two week low of $18.94 and a fifty-two week high of $42.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.21. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 3.73% and a net margin of 3.83%.The company had revenue of $613.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $650.90 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. This is an increase from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 194.44%.

Insider Transactions at Murphy Oil

In other Murphy Oil news, SVP Daniel R. Hanchera sold 47,320 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.79, for a total value of $1,598,942.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 36,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,222,049.14. This trade represents a 56.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 6.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SIR Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in Murphy Oil in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,896,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 44.9% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,068,290 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $69,037,000 after acquiring an additional 950,630 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 60.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,119,622 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $60,218,000 after acquiring an additional 794,510 shares during the period. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the 3rd quarter worth about $21,096,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 33.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,056,427 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $58,423,000 after acquiring an additional 514,127 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Murphy Oil

Murphy Oil Corporation is an independent upstream oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company’s operations encompass conventional onshore and offshore reservoirs, with an emphasis on liquids-rich properties and deepwater assets. Through a combination of proprietary technologies and strategic joint ventures, Murphy Oil seeks to optimize recovery rates and manage its portfolio to balance long-term resource development with operational flexibility.

Murphy Oil’s exploration and production activities are geographically diversified.