Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) Raised to Hold at Wells Fargo & Company

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Wall Street Zen cut Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $48.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Seaport Research Partners initiated coverage on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Thursday. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Murphy Oil from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.25.

Murphy Oil Trading Up 0.3%

MUR stock opened at $37.70 on Wednesday. Murphy Oil has a 52-week low of $24.49 and a 52-week high of $43.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $5.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.66 and a beta of 0.50. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.81.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.57 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $926.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $888.51 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 6.63%. Murphy Oil’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Murphy Oil will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Murphy Oil

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MUR. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Murphy Oil by 14,700.0% in the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 740 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 735 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 72.9% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,701 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 717 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy Oil in the second quarter valued at $54,000. 78.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Murphy Oil

Murphy Oil Corporation is an independent upstream oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company’s operations encompass conventional onshore and offshore reservoirs, with an emphasis on liquids-rich properties and deepwater assets. Through a combination of proprietary technologies and strategic joint ventures, Murphy Oil seeks to optimize recovery rates and manage its portfolio to balance long-term resource development with operational flexibility.

Murphy Oil’s exploration and production activities are geographically diversified.