Murphy Oil price target lowered to $54 from $55 at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler analyst Mark Lear lowered the firm’s price target on Murphy Oil to $54 from $55 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The firm notes that heading into Q2 results there have been a few key themes that continue to drive interest in E&P, including further operating efficiencies resulting in accelerated TIL activity, further consolidation in the space and recent deals coming outside the Permian basin, a scarcity of SMID upstream ideas in the wake of Russell 2000 promotions and cooling gas sentiment ahead of Matterhorn start up at the end of Q3.