Q1 EPS Estimates for Murphy Oil Cut by Capital One Financial

Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR) – Stock analysts at Capital One Financial decreased their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for shares of Murphy Oil in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, March 5th. Capital One Financial analyst B. Velie now forecasts that the oil and gas producer will earn $0.53 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $0.63. The consensus estimate for Murphy Oil’s current full-year earnings is $2.94 per share.

MUR has been the subject of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial cut shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.31.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Murphy Oil stock opened at $24.10 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.92. Murphy Oil has a 1-year low of $22.90 and a 1-year high of $49.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.96 and a beta of 2.14.

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 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 firm posted $0.90 EPS.

Murphy Oil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Murphy Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.39%. Murphy Oil’s dividend payout ratio is 48.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,217,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,857,702 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $56,214,000 after purchasing an additional 13,263 shares in the last quarter. Prospector Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 50.5% in the 3rd quarter. Prospector Partners LLC now owns 307,092 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $10,361,000 after purchasing an additional 103,092 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 605,557 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $20,431,000 after purchasing an additional 76,487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 67,246 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,268,000 after purchasing an additional 14,181 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.