Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Stock Price Down 5.2% on Analyst Downgrade

Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) dropped 5.2% during trading on Tuesday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $28.00 to $23.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Murphy Oil traded as low as $20.65 and last traded at $20.34. Approximately 1,298,556 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 33% from the average daily volume of 1,945,398 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.46.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on MUR. Roth Capital set a $37.00 price target on Murphy Oil in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Truist Financial lowered Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.23.

Insider Activity at Murphy Oil

In other news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu purchased 1,573 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $26.70 per share, with a total value of $41,999.10. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now owns 37,065 shares in the company, valued at $989,635.50. This trade represents a 4.43 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming purchased 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.47 per share, with a total value of $1,323,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,660,801.97. The trade was a 5.67 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 5.92% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $759,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 32.9% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,903 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 60.5% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,441 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 543 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 32.9% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,284 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 19,916 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $603,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average price of $26.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.21 and a beta of 1.68.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by ($0.27). Murphy Oil had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.66%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.33%.

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.