Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Now Covered by Barclays

Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) in a research note published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued an equal weight rating and a $54.00 price target on the oil and gas producer's stock.

MUR has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Mizuho reissued a buy rating and set a $53.00 price objective (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Thursday, March 21st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 29th. Roth Mkm reissued a buy rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $48.08.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of Murphy Oil stock traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $48.12. 1,593,715 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,907,652. The company has a market cap of $7.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.40 and a beta of 2.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.55. Murphy Oil has a fifty-two week low of $32.80 and a fifty-two week high of $49.14.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) 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). The firm had revenue of $844.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $852.24 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 13.02% and a net margin of 19.12%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Murphy Oil will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th will be given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.49%. Murphy Oil's dividend payout ratio is 28.44%.

Insider Activity at Murphy Oil

In related news, VP Louis W. Utsch sold 30,260 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total value of $1,208,584.40. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 9,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $379,589.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Murphy Oil news, VP Louis W. Utsch sold 30,260 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total transaction of $1,208,584.40. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 9,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $379,589.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Roger W. Jenkins sold 110,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.39, for a total transaction of $4,442,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,035,190 shares in the company, valued at $41,811,324.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 156,260 shares of company stock worth $6,322,644 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 5.95% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Murphy Oil by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 17,444,116 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $704,568,000 after buying an additional 729,319 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,816,692 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $762,637,000 after purchasing an additional 137,059 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,861,968 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $335,397,000 after purchasing an additional 207,547 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 4.9% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,815,843 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $315,682,000 after purchasing an additional 365,686 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 3.7% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,617 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $103,789,000 after purchasing an additional 98,855 shares during the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is currently 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.