Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Earns Equal Weight Rating from Analysts at Barclays

Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) in a report released on Wednesday, Briefing.com reports. The firm set an “equal weight” rating and a $54.00 price target on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Barclays‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 12.69% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on MUR. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 29th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $53.00 price target (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.08.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE MUR opened at $47.92 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $41.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Murphy Oil has a fifty-two week low of $32.80 and a fifty-two week high of $49.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a PE ratio of 11.36 and a beta of 2.21.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $844.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $852.24 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 13.02% and a net margin of 19.12%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Murphy Oil

In related news, CEO Roger W. Jenkins sold 110,000 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.39, for a total value of $4,442,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,035,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,811,324.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Murphy Oil news, CEO Roger W. Jenkins sold 110,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.39, for a total value of $4,442,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,035,190 shares in the company, valued at $41,811,324.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Paul D. Vaughan sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total transaction of $237,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,447.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 156,260 shares of company stock valued at $6,322,644. Insiders own 5.95% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MUR. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 73.5% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 21,212 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $857,000 after buying an additional 8,987 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 45.2% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 15,252 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $616,000 after acquiring an additional 4,749 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 22.5% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 10,669 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $431,000 after acquiring an additional 1,961 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 2.2% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 446,302 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $18,026,000 after acquiring an additional 9,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 10.5% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 53,213 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,149,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

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.