Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Downgraded by Mizuho to Neutral

Mizuho downgraded shares of Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $31.00 price objective on the oil and gas producer’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $32.00.

MUR has been the subject of a number of other reports. Roth Capital set a $37.00 price target on Murphy Oil in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Murphy Oil from $36.00 to $22.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Murphy Oil from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley set a $27.00 target price on Murphy Oil and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Murphy Oil has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.31.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

NYSE MUR opened at $22.53 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a PE ratio of 8.38 and a beta of 1.10. 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 twelve month low of $18.95 and a twelve month high of $43.98. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.72.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $665.71 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $684.89 million. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 7.66% and a net margin of 13.44%. The company’s revenue was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.85 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.77%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is presently 50.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MUR. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 210.8% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,610,766 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $159,346,000 after buying an additional 3,805,565 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 72.9% in the 1st 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 buying an additional 2,029,685 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 8,530.7% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,763,345 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $50,079,000 after buying an additional 1,742,914 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 91.6% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 837,282 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 29.4% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,633,023 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $103,178,000 after buying an additional 825,746 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company’s stock.

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.