Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $39.55, but opened at $41.41. Murphy Oil shares last traded at $41.0830, with a volume of 112,862 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Roth Mkm reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Friday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Murphy Oil to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.36.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $5.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.00 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $34.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.83.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $613.08 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $650.90 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 3.73% and a net margin of 3.83%.Murphy Oil’s quarterly revenue was down 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. This is a boost from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 194.44%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Daniel R. Hanchera sold 47,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.79, for a total transaction of $1,598,942.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 36,166 shares in the company, valued at $1,222,049.14. This trade represents a 56.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 61.8% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 22,495 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $704,000 after buying an additional 8,590 shares during the period. Flax Pond Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,967,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $233,000. TMB Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $808,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 18,768 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $586,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.