Barclays Increases Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Price Target to $23.00

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) had its target price boosted by Barclays from $22.00 to $23.00 in a research report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an underweight rating on the oil and gas producer's stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on MUR. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company set a $24.00 price objective on Murphy Oil and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Mizuho downgraded Murphy Oil from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $32.00 to $31.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Roth Capital cut Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $27.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $29.15.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of MUR stock traded up $0.65 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $26.23. The company had a trading volume of 2,800,478 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,384,133. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a PE ratio of 10.09 and a beta of 1.09. The company's fifty day moving average is $22.88 and its 200 day moving average is $25.39. Murphy Oil has a fifty-two week low of $18.95 and a fifty-two week high of $43.02.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $665.71 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $684.89 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 13.47%. Murphy Oil's revenue for the quarter was down 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. Research analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Murphy Oil

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MUR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 0.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,974,008 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $226,461,000 after buying an additional 35,826 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 210.8% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,610,766 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $159,346,000 after acquiring an additional 3,805,565 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 72.9% during the 1st quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 4,812,267 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $136,668,000 after acquiring an additional 2,029,685 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in Murphy Oil by 29.4% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,633,023 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $103,178,000 after purchasing an additional 825,746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in Murphy Oil by 3.6% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,052,273 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $86,685,000 after purchasing an additional 106,720 shares during the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.