Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $39.58.

Several research firms have commented on MUR. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $36.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

NYSE MUR opened at $32.22 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $31.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.52. Murphy Oil has a 1 year low of $27.75 and a 1 year high of $49.14. The company has a market cap of $4.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.39 and a beta of 2.17.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.02). Murphy Oil had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 9.22%. The firm had revenue of $758.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $759.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.59 earnings per share. Murphy Oil’s revenue was down 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Murphy Oil will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lindenwold Advisors INC raised its holdings in Murphy Oil by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 10,529 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $355,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in Murphy Oil by 16.2% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,140 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $129,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Murphy Oil by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 25,069 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $759,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC raised its holdings in Murphy Oil by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 6,574 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $222,000 after acquiring an additional 494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in Murphy Oil by 266.8% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 741 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.