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

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

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on MUR. Barclays assumed coverage on Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $54.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Murphy Oil from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Scotiabank downgraded Murphy Oil from a sector outperform rating to a sector perform rating and boosted their price target for the company from $46.00 to $50.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Murphy Oil from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Murphy Oil currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $49.50.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of MUR opened at $46.01 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $43.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.61. Murphy Oil has a 52-week low of $32.80 and a 52-week high of $49.14. The firm has a market cap of $7.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.90 and a beta of 2.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.10). Murphy Oil had a net margin of 19.12% and a return on equity of 13.02%. The business had revenue of $844.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $852.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Murphy Oil will post 4.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Louis W. Utsch sold 30,260 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total transaction of $1,208,584.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 9,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,589.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, VP Louis W. Utsch sold 30,260 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total transaction of $1,208,584.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 9,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,589.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Maria A. Martinez sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.35, for a total value of $433,500.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 40,590 shares in the company, valued at $1,759,576.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 156,260 shares of company stock valued at $6,322,644. Company insiders own 5.92% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 1.0% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 22,125 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,003,000 after buying an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 3.2% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 7,527 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $288,000 after buying an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY now owns 9,048 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $389,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,547 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the period. Finally, Wetherby Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,436 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Company Profile

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.