Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Sets New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $42.91 and last traded at $41.8060, with a volume of 1838073 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $42.12.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MUR. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Thursday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $31.00 target price on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded Murphy Oil from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.36.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 0.7%

The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market cap of $5.97 billion, a PE ratio of 58.06 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.50.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $613.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $650.90 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This is an increase from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is presently 194.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Murphy Oil news, SVP Daniel R. Hanchera sold 47,320 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.79, for a total value of $1,598,942.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 36,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,222,049.14. This represents a 56.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 6.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MUR. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Murphy Oil by 61.8% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 22,495 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $704,000 after buying an additional 8,590 shares in the last quarter. Flax Pond Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Murphy Oil during the 4th quarter worth about $6,967,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the 4th quarter worth about $233,000. TMB Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter valued at about $808,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 18,768 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $586,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873 shares during the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Murphy Oil Company Profile

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.