Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) Short Interest Update

Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,430,000 shares, a decrease of 12.6% from the May 31st total of 7,360,000 shares. Approximately 4.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,380,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.7 days.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE MUR opened at $41.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.07. Murphy Oil has a twelve month low of $36.34 and a twelve month high of $49.14. The stock has a market cap of $6.29 billion, a PE ratio of 11.49 and a beta of 2.21.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.03. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 11.75%. The business had revenue of $794.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $750.94 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Murphy Oil will post 4.23 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.43%.

Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the first quarter worth approximately $1,700,000. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil during the first quarter worth approximately $1,859,000. EMC Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 166.1% in the first quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 8,008 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 4,999 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 11.1% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 22,872 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,045,000 after purchasing an additional 2,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caxton Associates LP acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the first quarter valued at approximately $237,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MUR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $54.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $46.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.00.

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.