Wall Street Zen Upgrades Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) to Buy

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Murphy Oil from “hold” to “buy,” although the broader analyst consensus remains “hold,” with four buy, eight hold, and three sell ratings and an average price target of $39.27.
• Murphy Oil shares opened at $41.73, near their 12-month high of $43.34, with a market capitalization of approximately $5.98 billion.
• The company reported quarterly revenue of $926.33 million, up 33.5% year over year and above estimates, but earnings per share of $1.55 narrowly missed the $1.57 consensus forecast; institutional investors own 78.31% of the stock.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on MUR. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays cut Murphy Oil from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $38.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $39.27.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

MUR opened at $41.73 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $37.17 and a 200-day moving average of $37.38. Murphy Oil has a 12-month low of $26.49 and a 12-month high of $43.34. The stock has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.66 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $926.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $888.51 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 6.63% and a net margin of 9.74%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 33.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the second quarter worth $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 worth $337,081,000 after purchasing an additional 238,326 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 105.6% during the first 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 buying an additional 1,700,498 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 3.4% during the first 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 buying an additional 60,190 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $64,809,000 after buying an additional 6,064 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Murphy Oil Company Profile

Murphy Oil Corporation NYSE: MUR is an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Its activities include identifying, acquiring, developing and producing crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids.

The company's current operations are concentrated in the United States and Canada. In the United States, Murphy Oil has assets in the Eagle Ford and Gulf Coast onshore regions, as well as interests in the Gulf of Mexico. In Canada, the company operates in Western Canadian plays, including the Tupper Montney area.

Murphy Oil was incorporated in 1950 and has historically pursued exploration and production opportunities in several international markets in addition to North America.

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