Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Receives Underweight Rating from Morgan Stanley

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR)‘s stock had its “underweight” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley in a report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. They presently have a $37.00 price target on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 21.75% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Murphy Oil from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Murphy Oil from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.42.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 1.5 %

Murphy Oil stock opened at $30.39 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.41. Murphy Oil has a 12 month low of $27.75 and a 12 month high of $49.14. The firm has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a PE ratio of 9.80 and a beta of 2.17.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.02). Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 9.22% and a net margin of 14.78%. The company had revenue of $758.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $759.74 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUR. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Murphy Oil during the fourth quarter worth approximately $113,000. EMC Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 628.0% in the fourth quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 8,008 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $242,000 after acquiring an additional 6,908 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 50.9% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 11,467 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 3,870 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 59.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,835 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 2,559 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in Murphy Oil by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 733,874 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $22,207,000 after acquiring an additional 61,157 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.