Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Price Target Raised to $44.00

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) had its target price hoisted by Mizuho from $41.00 to $44.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Mizuho currently has a neutral rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “positive” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Monday, September 7th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Murphy Oil from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Murphy Oil from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.27.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 4.7%

Shares of MUR opened at $41.73 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.98 billion, a PE ratio of 20.66 and a beta of 0.59. The company’s fifty day moving average is $37.17 and its 200 day moving average is $37.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. Murphy Oil has a fifty-two week low of $26.49 and a fifty-two week high of $43.34.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.57 by ($0.02). Murphy Oil had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 6.63%. The business had revenue of $926.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $888.51 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. Murphy Oil’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 16th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is currently 69.31%.

Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUR. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Murphy Oil in the second quarter worth about $626,514,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 105.6% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,310,884 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $136,574,000 after buying an additional 1,700,498 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the second quarter valued at approximately $49,681,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the second quarter valued at approximately $45,719,000. Finally, Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the second quarter worth approximately $19,536,000. 78.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Murphy Oil Company Profile

Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) is an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Its activities include identifying, acquiring, developing and producing crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids.

The company’s current operations are concentrated in the United States and Canada. In the United States, Murphy Oil has assets in the Eagle Ford and Gulf Coast onshore regions, as well as interests in the Gulf of Mexico. In Canada, the company operates in Western Canadian plays, including the Tupper Montney area.

Murphy Oil was incorporated in 1950 and has historically pursued exploration and production opportunities in several international markets in addition to North America.