Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Downgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Neutral

JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has $47.00 target price on the oil and gas producer’s stock, down from their prior target price of $50.00.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on MUR. Mizuho raised their price target on Murphy Oil from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $59.00 to $55.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Scotiabank downgraded Murphy Oil from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Murphy Oil in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They issued a peer perform rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Murphy Oil from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $48.36.

Murphy Oil Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE MUR opened at $37.43 on Thursday. Murphy Oil has a one year low of $35.61 and a one year high of $49.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a PE ratio of 10.43 and a beta of 2.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $39.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.77.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.08. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 16.40%. The company had revenue of $802.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $813.97 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Murphy Oil will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Murphy Oil’s payout ratio is currently 33.43%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Murphy Oil by 102.9% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 70,244 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,897,000 after purchasing an additional 35,621 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 16.2% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,140 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $129,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 15.9% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 36,892 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,521,000 after buying an additional 5,068 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 5.2% during the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 181,023 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $7,465,000 after buying an additional 8,971 shares during the period. Finally, Scientech Research LLC acquired a new position in Murphy Oil during the second quarter valued at approximately $350,000. 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.