Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $51.00.

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $54.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank cut shares of Murphy Oil from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 0.5 %

MUR stock opened at $41.18 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $42.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.05. Murphy Oil has a 12 month low of $36.34 and a 12 month high of $49.14. The company has a market cap of $6.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.47 and a beta of 2.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $794.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.94 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 11.75%. Murphy Oil’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is 33.43%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the first quarter worth about $1,700,000. Atria Investments Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the first quarter worth about $1,859,000. EMC Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 166.1% during the first quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 8,008 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 4,999 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 11.1% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 22,872 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,045,000 after buying an additional 2,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caxton Associates LP purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the first quarter worth about $237,000. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.