Mizuho Boosts Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Price Target to $55.00

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) had its price objective upped by Mizuho from $53.00 to $55.00 in a report published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

MUR has been the topic of several other research reports. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Murphy Oil from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Murphy Oil from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Murphy Oil from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered Murphy Oil from a sector outperform rating to a sector perform rating and upped their target price for the company from $46.00 to $50.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $49.00.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE MUR opened at $45.21 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $43.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.59. Murphy Oil has a 52-week low of $32.80 and a 52-week high of $49.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.71 and a beta of 2.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.10). Murphy Oil had a net margin of 19.12% and a return on equity of 13.02%. The firm had revenue of $844.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $852.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. 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 2.65%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.44%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Paul D. Vaughan sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total transaction of $237,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 11,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,447.97. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Maria A. Martinez sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.35, for a total value of $433,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 40,590 shares in the company, valued at $1,759,576.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Paul D. Vaughan sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $237,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 11,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,447.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 156,260 shares of company stock worth $6,322,644. Insiders own 5.92% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 3,904.6% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,090,904 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $89,198,000 after acquiring an additional 2,038,692 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth $43,711,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Murphy Oil by 327.9% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,137,590 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $42,068,000 after buying an additional 871,738 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in Murphy Oil by 126.5% during the second quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,468,759 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $56,253,000 after buying an additional 820,403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Murphy Oil by 4.4% during the first 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

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.