Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Stock Price Down 5.2% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Murphy Oil shares fell 5.2% to about $38.30 in midday trading, with volume running 82% below the stock’s average session volume.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: the consensus rating is “Hold” with a $37.75 price target, while recent actions included a downgrade from Jefferies and a target increase from KeyCorp.
• The company reported quarterly revenue of $926.3 million, beating estimates, but earnings per share of $1.55 narrowly missed forecasts. Murphy Oil also maintains a $0.35 quarterly dividend, equivalent to a 3.6% yield.

Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) shares traded down 5.2% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $38.40 and last traded at $38.2950. 388,580 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 2,130,206 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.40.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MUR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to an "underperform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, September 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners began coverage on Murphy Oil in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $37.75.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $5.53 billion, a PE ratio of 19.11 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company's 50 day moving average price is $36.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.14.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.57 by ($0.02). Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 6.63% and a net margin of 9.74%.The firm had revenue of $926.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $888.51 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.27 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 33.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. Murphy Oil's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.31%.

Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Murphy Oil during the second quarter valued at approximately $626,514,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,171,385 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $337,081,000 after acquiring an additional 238,326 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 105.6% during the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 1,700,498 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 3.4% during the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 60,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in 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 worth $64,809,000 after purchasing an additional 6,064 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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 acquiring acreage, drilling and developing wells, and producing crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids for sale to customers and markets.

The company's portfolio is primarily focused on onshore assets in the United States, including operations in the Eagle Ford and other U.S. resource plays, as well as offshore production in the Gulf of Mexico. Murphy Oil has also maintained an international exploration and production presence, including projects in Canada and Malaysia, though its asset portfolio has changed over time through acquisitions and divestitures.

Murphy Oil traces its roots to the Murphy family's business interests and has operated as a publicly traded energy company for decades.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.