Analysts Set Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Target Price at $39.58

Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $39.58.

Several research analysts have commented on MUR shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on 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. Mizuho cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 2.5 %

MUR stock opened at $32.22 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $4.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.39 and a beta of 2.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.63. Murphy Oil has a 52 week low of $27.75 and a 52 week high of $49.14.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.59 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 3.07 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 3,191.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,627,268 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $54,904,000 after buying an additional 1,577,831 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 399.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,012,944 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $34,177,000 after buying an additional 810,104 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 641.7% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 672,717 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $22,697,000 after buying an additional 582,020 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 26.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,595,260 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $53,824,000 after buying an additional 336,372 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 92.1% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 687,254 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $28,342,000 after buying an additional 329,521 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.