Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Trading Down 5.2% – What’s Next?

Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) shares dropped 5.2% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $38.40 and last traded at $38.2950. Approximately 388,580 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 2,130,206 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.40.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MUR. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Seaport Research Partners started coverage on Murphy Oil in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.75.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 4.5%

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of $5.53 billion, a PE ratio of 19.11 and a beta of 0.50.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by ($0.02). Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 6.63% and a net margin of 9.74%.The business had revenue of $926.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $888.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 33.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is currently 69.31%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the second quarter worth approximately $626,514,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Murphy Oil by 3.0% in the first 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 acquiring an additional 238,326 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,700,498 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 3.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 60,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings 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 worth $64,809,000 after acquiring an additional 6,064 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Murphy Oil

Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) is an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Its activities include acquiring acreage, drilling and developing wells, and producing crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids for sale to customers and markets.

The company’s portfolio is primarily focused on onshore assets in the United States, including operations in the Eagle Ford and other U.S. resource plays, as well as offshore production in the Gulf of Mexico. Murphy Oil has also maintained an international exploration and production presence, including projects in Canada and Malaysia, though its asset portfolio has changed over time through acquisitions and divestitures.

Murphy Oil traces its roots to the Murphy family’s business interests and has operated as a publicly traded energy company for decades.