Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Hits New 1-Year Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday after Piper Sandler lowered their price target on the stock from $42.00 to $39.00. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Murphy Oil traded as low as $29.66 and last traded at $29.90, with a volume of 86647 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $30.29.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Murphy Oil from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Murphy Oil from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.58.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Neo Ivy Capital Management boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 597.6% during the 3rd quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management now owns 71,154 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,400,000 after acquiring an additional 60,954 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,548,711 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $119,755,000 after purchasing an additional 45,432 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp acquired a new stake in Murphy Oil in the third quarter worth about $238,000. Barclays PLC grew its position in Murphy Oil by 399.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,012,944 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $34,177,000 after buying an additional 810,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its stake in Murphy Oil by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 44,862 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,514,000 after buying an additional 8,126 shares during the period. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.20. The company has a market capitalization of $4.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.45 and a beta of 2.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.02). Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 9.22% and a net margin of 14.78%. The firm had revenue of $758.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $759.74 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is currently 38.71%.

Murphy Oil Company Profile

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.