Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR – Get Rating) dropped 9.4% on Tuesday after The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on the stock from $45.00 to $34.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Murphy Oil traded as low as $27.50 and last traded at $27.53. Approximately 57,326 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 97% from the average daily volume of 2,215,774 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.39.
Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on MUR. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Murphy Oil from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 31st. StockNews.com cut Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Murphy Oil from $30.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Murphy Oil from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $51.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, May 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Murphy Oil to $49.00 and set a “na” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.13.
In other news, Director Elisabeth W. Keller sold 2,756 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.39, for a total value of $89,266.84. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $267,768.13. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Roger W. Jenkins sold 225,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.06, for a total value of $9,688,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 814,664 shares in the company, valued at $35,079,431.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 282,498 shares of company stock worth $12,204,359. Corporate insiders own 6.20% of the company’s stock.
Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Moors & Cabot Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC acquired a new position in Murphy Oil during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. USA Financial Portformulas Corp acquired a new position in Murphy Oil during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 857.8% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,657 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 1,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 36.8% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. 76.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $37.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.49 and a beta of 2.60.
Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $552.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $661.40 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 7.27% and a net margin of 4.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 45.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.06 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 16th were paid a $0.175 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 13th. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. This is an increase from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is 109.38%.
Murphy Oil Company Profile (NYSE:MUR)
Murphy Oil Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an oil and natural 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.