Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Trading 4.3% Higher - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Murphy Oil shares rose 4.3% to about $39.83, although trading volume was roughly 95% below the stock’s average daily volume.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: the stock has an average “Hold” rating and a consensus price target of $37.75, despite KeyCorp raising its target to $47 and Wells Fargo increasing its target to $42.
• Murphy Oil reported quarterly revenue of $926.3 million, up 33.5% year over year, but earnings of $1.55 per share narrowly missed estimates. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.35, representing a 3.5% annualized yield.

Shares of Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) rose 4.3% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $39.94 and last traded at $39.8260. 107,711 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 95% from the average daily volume of 2,129,957 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.20.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, September 7th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $41.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays cut Murphy Oil from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $38.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.75.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a 50-day moving average of $36.44 and a 200-day moving average of $37.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by ($0.02). Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 6.63% and a net margin of 9.74%.The company had revenue of $926.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $888.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.27 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 33.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. Murphy Oil's payout ratio is currently 69.31%.

Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the 2nd quarter worth $626,514,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in 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 last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in 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 increased its holdings in 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 raised its position in Murphy Oil by 0.4% during the first 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 acquiring an additional 6,064 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company's stock.

About Murphy Oil

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.

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