Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Price Target Lowered to $30.00 at Piper Sandler

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) had its price objective cut by Piper Sandler from $35.00 to $30.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on MUR. Roth Capital set a $37.00 target price on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley set a $27.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Mizuho lowered shares of Murphy Oil from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.62.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of MUR opened at $23.33 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.67 and a beta of 1.10. Murphy Oil has a 12-month low of $18.95 and a 12-month high of $44.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $23.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.81.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $665.71 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $684.89 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.66%. The business’s revenue was down 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.57%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MUR. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 399.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,012,944 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $34,177,000 after buying an additional 810,104 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 21.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,881 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 1,379 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 25,069 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $759,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Moody National Bank Trust Division grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 38,971 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,179,000 after purchasing an additional 5,326 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 733,874 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $22,207,000 after purchasing an additional 61,157 shares during the period. 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.