Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) shares gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $41.25, but opened at $39.92. Murphy Oil shares last traded at $39.4880, with a volume of 294,939 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Scotiabank upgraded Murphy Oil to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.36.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $5.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.76 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.61.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.21. The business had revenue of $613.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $650.90 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 3.73% and a net margin of 3.83%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. This is an increase from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 194.44%.

Insider Transactions at Murphy Oil

In other Murphy Oil news, SVP Daniel R. Hanchera sold 47,320 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.79, for a total transaction of $1,598,942.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 36,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,222,049.14. The trade was a 56.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MUR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,933,059 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $247,912,000 after buying an additional 231,253 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Murphy Oil by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,572,610 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $174,144,000 after acquiring an additional 143,125 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Murphy Oil by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,766,534 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $107,247,000 after acquiring an additional 312,904 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 21.8% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,736,815 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $106,163,000 after acquiring an additional 668,525 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 8.3% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,656,394 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $75,468,000 after purchasing an additional 204,349 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

About Murphy Oil

Murphy Oil Corporation is an independent upstream oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company’s operations encompass conventional onshore and offshore reservoirs, with an emphasis on liquids-rich properties and deepwater assets. Through a combination of proprietary technologies and strategic joint ventures, Murphy Oil seeks to optimize recovery rates and manage its portfolio to balance long-term resource development with operational flexibility.

Murphy Oil’s exploration and production activities are geographically diversified.