Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Sets New 1-Year Low at $33.50

Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $33.50 and last traded at $33.53, with a volume of 293190 shares. The stock had previously closed at $34.53.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on MUR shares. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $49.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Murphy Oil from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $50.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Scotiabank cut shares of Murphy Oil from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.91.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 0.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $5.19 billion, a PE ratio of 9.48 and a beta of 2.21. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $38.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $802.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $813.97 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 11.68% and a net margin of 17.32%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.43%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Murphy Oil by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,254,125 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $340,400,000 after buying an additional 262,256 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 7.7% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,737,409 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $125,100,000 after acquiring an additional 195,906 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 5.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,138,985 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $88,212,000 after acquiring an additional 107,462 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,777,408 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $75,824,000 after purchasing an additional 45,236 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 23.0% during the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,132,305 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $51,746,000 after purchasing an additional 212,100 shares in 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.