Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Trading Down 4.1% – Time to Sell?

Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) shares fell 4.1% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $28.51 and last traded at $28.81. 246,853 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 2,810,890 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.03.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on MUR. Mizuho reduced their price target on Murphy Oil from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 15th. UBS Group upped their price target on Murphy Oil from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Zacks Research cut Murphy Oil from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Murphy Oil from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Murphy Oil from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy Oil presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $29.54.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average of $25.14 and a 200 day moving average of $23.96. The company has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.01 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.06. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 5.25% and a net margin of 10.20%.The company had revenue of $695.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $632.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.36%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Murphy Oil

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Murphy Oil by 0.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,974,008 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $226,461,000 after purchasing an additional 35,826 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Murphy Oil by 1.6% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,700,148 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $128,253,000 after purchasing an additional 89,382 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its position in Murphy Oil by 72.9% during the first quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 4,812,267 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $136,668,000 after purchasing an additional 2,029,685 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 7.0% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,766,534 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $107,247,000 after buying an additional 312,904 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,751,712 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $84,414,000 after acquiring an additional 118,689 shares during 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.