Brokerages Set Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Target Price at $41.17

Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $41.17.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $36.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $59.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $44.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of MUR opened at $31.60 on Thursday. Murphy Oil has a 1-year low of $30.99 and a 1-year high of $49.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.32 and a beta of 2.21. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $34.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $802.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $813.97 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 17.32% and a return on equity of 11.68%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil will post 3.45 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MUR. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 266.8% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 741 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 1,015.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 569 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 106.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,470 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares during the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.