Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Stock Price

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) had its target price lowered by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $39.00 to $35.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 15.63% from the stock’s previous close.

MUR has been the topic of several other research reports. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $36.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.25.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of MUR opened at $30.27 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $32.92 and a 200-day moving average of $36.53. The company has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a PE ratio of 9.76 and a beta of 2.18. Murphy Oil has a one year low of $29.84 and a one year high of $49.14.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.02). Murphy Oil had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $758.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $759.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.59 EPS. Murphy Oil’s revenue was down 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Murphy Oil will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,254,125 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $340,400,000 after buying an additional 262,256 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,548,711 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $119,755,000 after buying an additional 45,432 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 2,627,701 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $88,659,000 after buying an additional 58,220 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 5.3% in the 2nd 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 buying an additional 107,462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 3,191.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,627,268 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $54,904,000 after buying an additional 1,577,831 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Murphy Oil

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.