Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Price Target to $39.00

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) had its target price cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $41.00 to $39.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the oil and gas producer's stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on MUR. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $59.00 to $55.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $44.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $46.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Murphy Oil in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued a peer perform rating for the company. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Murphy Oil presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $44.82.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of MUR traded up $0.95 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $33.74. The company had a trading volume of 1,777,285 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,684,177. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $36.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.04. The company has a market capitalization of $5.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.40 and a beta of 2.21. Murphy Oil has a 1-year low of $32.53 and a 1-year high of $49.14. 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $802.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $813.97 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 17.32% and a return on equity of 11.68%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. Murphy Oil's dividend payout ratio is 33.43%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Duality Advisers LP increased its stake in Murphy Oil by 364.6% in the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 113,451 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $5,185,000 after purchasing an additional 89,032 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Murphy Oil by 138.8% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 29,702 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $1,357,000 after buying an additional 17,265 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC raised its stake in Murphy Oil by 280.0% during the 4th quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 72,200 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $3,080,000 after buying an additional 53,201 shares during the period. Invenomic Capital Management LP bought a new position in Murphy Oil in the fourth quarter worth approximately $16,349,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 4.0% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,642 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $715,000 after acquiring an additional 599 shares during the period. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by 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.