Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Hits New 12-Month Low After Analyst Downgrade

Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Monday after Mizuho lowered their price target on the stock from $50.00 to $45.00. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Murphy Oil traded as low as $29.66 and last traded at $29.90, with a volume of 86647 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $30.29.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Murphy Oil from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.83.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Neo Ivy Capital Management increased its position in Murphy Oil by 597.6% during the third quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management now owns 71,154 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,400,000 after buying an additional 60,954 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Murphy Oil by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,548,711 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $119,755,000 after buying an additional 45,432 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp acquired a new position in Murphy Oil during the third quarter worth approximately $238,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in Murphy Oil by 399.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,012,944 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $34,177,000 after buying an additional 810,104 shares during the period. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its position in Murphy Oil by 22.1% during the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 44,862 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,514,000 after buying an additional 8,126 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.54 and a beta of 2.18. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $758.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $759.74 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 9.22% and a net margin of 14.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.59 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is currently 38.71%.

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.