Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Murphy Oil from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Murphy Oil from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Murphy Oil from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $30.17.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of MUR stock opened at $34.03 on Monday. 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 $4.86 billion, a PE ratio of 47.27 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.23. Murphy Oil has a 52 week low of $18.94 and a 52 week high of $36.08.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.07) by $0.21. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 3.83% and a return on equity of 3.73%. The firm had revenue of $613.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $650.90 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The firm 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 represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. This is a positive change from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is presently 194.44%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 61.8% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 22,495 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $704,000 after purchasing an additional 8,590 shares during the last quarter. Flax Pond Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,967,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth approximately $233,000. TMB Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth approximately $808,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 18,768 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $586,000 after buying an additional 1,873 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

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.