Piper Sandler Cuts Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Price Target to $43.00

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) had its target price trimmed by Piper Sandler from $44.00 to $43.00 in a research note published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

MUR has been the topic of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $59.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.17.

Murphy Oil Stock Down 0.3 %

Murphy Oil stock opened at $33.04 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.04 billion, a PE ratio of 9.20 and a beta of 2.20. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $35.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.01. Murphy Oil has a twelve month low of $32.53 and a twelve month high of $49.14.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Murphy Oil will post 3.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.43%.

Institutional Trading of Murphy Oil

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MUR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,254,125 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $340,400,000 after acquiring an additional 262,256 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of 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 worth $125,100,000 after purchasing an additional 195,906 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position 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 worth $88,212,000 after purchasing an additional 107,462 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 23.0% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 212,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 90.5% during the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 518,904 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by 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.