Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Price Target Cut to $34.00 by Analysts at Piper Sandler

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) had its target price lowered by equities researchers at Piper Sandler from $35.00 to $34.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective points to a potential upside of 33.87% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho reduced their price objective 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. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Murphy Oil from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial cut Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Roth Capital set a $37.00 target price on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.31.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 5.1 %

MUR opened at $25.40 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a PE ratio of 9.44 and a beta of 2.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Murphy Oil has a 52 week low of $22.90 and a 52 week high of $49.14. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.86.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Murphy Oil

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MUR. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 91.6% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,751,737 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $53,008,000 after purchasing an additional 837,282 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 61.9% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,147,590 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $64,986,000 after purchasing an additional 821,427 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 399.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 810,104 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 108.2% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,529,528 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $46,284,000 after acquiring an additional 794,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 886,485.1% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 594,012 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $17,976,000 after acquiring an additional 593,945 shares in the last quarter. 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.