Piper Sandler Issues Positive Forecast for Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Stock Price

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) had its target price boosted by Piper Sandler from $32.00 to $33.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

MUR has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $31.00 target price on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Friday, January 16th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Murphy Oil from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $29.83.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Murphy Oil stock opened at $34.34 on Thursday. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.87. Murphy Oil has a 12 month low of $18.94 and a 12 month high of $36.08. The company has a market cap of $4.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.69 and a beta of 0.72.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $613.08 million for 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%.The business’s revenue was down 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy Oil will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This is a boost from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 194.44%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MUR. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in Murphy Oil during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 67.3% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,094 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 72.9% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,701 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 717 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 39.7% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,440 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 693 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.