Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Price Target Increased to $55.00 by Analysts at Piper Sandler

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) had its price objective lifted by Piper Sandler from $49.00 to $55.00 in a report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a buy rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $49.50.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of MUR opened at $46.01 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.02 billion, a PE ratio of 10.90 and a beta of 2.21. Murphy Oil has a 1 year low of $32.80 and a 1 year high of $49.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.61.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued 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 business 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 revenue for the quarter was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. Analysts forecast that Murphy Oil will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.44%.

Insider Transactions at Murphy Oil

In other news, VP Paul D. Vaughan sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total transaction of $237,660.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,877 shares in the company, valued at $470,447.97. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Roger W. Jenkins sold 110,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.39, for a total transaction of $4,442,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,035,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,811,324.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Paul D. Vaughan sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $237,660.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,447.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 156,260 shares of company stock worth $6,322,644. Insiders own 5.92% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MUR. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $857,000 after purchasing an additional 8,987 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 4,749 shares during the period. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,961 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 2.2% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 446,302 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $18,026,000 after acquiring an additional 9,758 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 10.5% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 53,213 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,149,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075 shares during the period. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.