Murphy Oil Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an oil and natural 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. The company was incorporated in 1950 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
MUR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $41.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 21st. MKM Partners restated a "buy" rating and set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, July 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Murphy Oil from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $51.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, May 5th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $49.00 to $47.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $34.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.00.
Murphy Oil Price Performance
Shares of NYSE:MUR traded up $1.12 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $34.94. The stock had a trading volume of 2,156,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,930,797. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $33.85 and a 200-day moving average of $35.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $5.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.31 and a beta of 2.56. Murphy Oil has a 12-month low of $18.83 and a 12-month high of $45.79.
Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $880.87 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 17.00% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 100.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil will post 5.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Murphy Oil Increases Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. This is a boost from Murphy Oil's previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 12th. Murphy Oil's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.34%.
Insider Activity at Murphy Oil
In related news, SVP E Ted Botner sold 10,128 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $455,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,864 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,098,880. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Murphy Oil news, CEO Roger W. Jenkins sold 225,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.06, for a total transaction of $9,688,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 814,664 shares in the company, valued at $35,079,431.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP E Ted Botner sold 10,128 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $455,760.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 68,864 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,098,880. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 279,742 shares of company stock valued at $12,115,092. Corporate insiders own 6.20% of the company's stock.