UBS Group Cuts Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Price Target to $23.00

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) had its target price dropped by equities research analysts at UBS Group from $28.00 to $23.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. UBS Group’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 7.09% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on MUR. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Roth Capital set a $37.00 price target on Murphy Oil in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial lowered Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Murphy Oil currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.23.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 3.8 %

Shares of MUR traded down $0.84 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $21.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,868,230 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,938,990. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Murphy Oil has a 52 week low of $20.93 and a 52 week high of $49.14. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $26.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.41. The stock has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a PE ratio of 7.99 and a beta of 1.68.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.62 by ($0.27). Murphy Oil had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.66%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Murphy Oil will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Murphy Oil news, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu bought 1,573 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $26.70 per share, for a total transaction of $41,999.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 37,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,635.50. This represents a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Claiborne P. Deming acquired 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.47 per share, with a total value of $1,323,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at $24,660,801.97. This trade represents a 5.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 5.92% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MUR. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,548,711 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $119,755,000 after buying an additional 45,432 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in Murphy Oil by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,807,277 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $84,948,000 after purchasing an additional 114,656 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,234,585 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $67,619,000 after purchasing an additional 107,871 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 61.9% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,147,590 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $64,986,000 after purchasing an additional 821,427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,857,702 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $56,214,000 after purchasing an additional 13,263 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

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.