Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Shares Gap Down to $34.41

Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $34.41, but opened at $33.49. Murphy Oil shares last traded at $33.37, with a volume of 178,973 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MUR. StockNews.com cut Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They set a "peer perform" rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $59.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $46.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Murphy Oil presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $45.00.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 4.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $37.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.00 billion, a PE ratio of 9.14 and a beta of 2.21.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $802.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $813.97 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 17.32% and a return on equity of 11.68%. The business's revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Murphy Oil Co. will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.66%. Murphy Oil's payout ratio is presently 33.43%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 3.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,254,125 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $340,400,000 after purchasing an additional 262,256 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,737,409 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $125,100,000 after acquiring an additional 195,906 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 5.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 107,462 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 23.0% in the first 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 acquiring an additional 212,100 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 90.5% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,092,374 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $45,050,000 after acquiring an additional 518,904 shares during the period. 78.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.