Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Given New $35.00 Price Target at Barclays

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) had its price objective raised by Barclays from $34.00 to $35.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “underweight” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 4.61% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on MUR. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Murphy Oil from $36.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Zacks Research raised Murphy Oil from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $41.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Murphy Oil from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.83.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 1.0%

Murphy Oil stock traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $36.69. The stock had a trading volume of 120,672 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,043,242. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.26 billion, a PE ratio of 11.41 and a beta of 0.52. Murphy Oil has a twelve month low of $28.70 and a twelve month high of $45.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.99.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.17. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 14.90% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The business had revenue of $849.17 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $781.53 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 3.63 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Murphy Oil during the 2nd quarter worth about $626,514,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,171,385 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $337,081,000 after buying an additional 238,326 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 105.6% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 1,700,498 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Murphy Oil by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,836,056 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $75,737,000 after buying an additional 60,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Murphy Oil by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,571,120 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $64,809,000 after purchasing an additional 6,064 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

About Murphy Oil

Murphy Oil Corporation is an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. It explores for and develops crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids, with operations focused on onshore areas of the United States and Canada and offshore areas in the Gulf of Mexico. The company traces its roots to 1950, when it was founded as Murphy Corporation. Over time, Murphy shifted its focus toward exploration and production and expanded its activities internationally, later concentrating its portfolio on North American assets.