Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Trading Up 4.8% - Still a Buy?

Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded up 4.8% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $21.21 and last traded at $21.09. 837,272 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 3,155,339 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.12.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MUR shares. Morgan Stanley set a $27.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays cut their target price on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $32.77.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 2.2 %

The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $25.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.18. The firm has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.77 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.62 by ($0.27). Murphy Oil had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.66%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.22%. Murphy Oil's payout ratio is 48.33%.

Insider Activity at Murphy Oil

In other news, Director Claiborne P. Deming purchased 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $26.47 per share, with a total value of $1,323,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at $24,660,801.97. This represents a 5.67 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu bought 1,573 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $26.70 per share, for a total transaction of $41,999.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president now directly owns 37,065 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,635.50. This represents a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 6.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 342.8% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 828 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Murphy Oil during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. GeoWealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 60.5% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,441 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 543 shares during the period. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the first quarter worth approximately $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company's stock.

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.