Mizuho analyst Paul Sankey upgraded Murphy Oil (MUR) to Neutral while lowering his price target for the shares to $41 from $42. The Gulf of Mexico joint venture with Petrobras (PBR) is "nicely accretive" and affords Murphy "optionality," Sankey tells investors in a research note. He continues to have concerns about "unconventional inventory running room," but thinks these issues are now more addressable than before.

Piper Sandler analyst Mark Lear raised the firm's price target on Murphy Oil to $55 from $49 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares as part of a Q1 preview for the exploration and production group. Energy has been hot, almost too hot, as $90 crude potentially cools the pace of consolidation and investors looking for ways to play the data center and power demand theme turn to gas equities, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm adjusted oil and gas price assumptions, expecting crude pricing to remain strong through Q3 and gas pricing pressure to persist through the balance of fiscal 2024.