Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Earns “Underweight” Rating from Morgan Stanley

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR)‘s stock had its “underweight” rating restated by research analysts at Morgan Stanley in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $37.00 price target on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential upside of 17.52% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $42.00 to $39.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Murphy Oil from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Murphy Oil has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.42.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

NYSE:MUR opened at $31.49 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Murphy Oil has a fifty-two week low of $27.75 and a fifty-two week high of $49.14. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.46. The stock has a market cap of $4.59 billion, a PE ratio of 10.16 and a beta of 2.17.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its 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). The firm had revenue of $758.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $759.74 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 9.22%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.59 EPS. Analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MUR. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Murphy Oil in the third quarter worth about $1,217,000. Prospector Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 50.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 103,092 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. lifted its stake in Murphy Oil by 86.5% during the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 132,710 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,473,000 after purchasing an additional 61,537 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Murphy Oil by 14.5% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 26.7% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 67,246 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,268,000 after purchasing an additional 14,181 shares during the period. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.