Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) & Chord Energy (NASDAQ:CHRD) Head to Head Review

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) and Chord Energy (NASDAQ:CHRD) are both mid-cap energy companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Dividends

Murphy Oil pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Chord Energy pays an annual dividend of $5.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Murphy Oil pays out 194.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Chord Energy pays out 825.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Murphy Oil has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Chord Energy has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Murphy Oil and Chord Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Murphy Oil	3.83%	3.73%	2.01%
Chord Energy	0.91%	6.71%	4.26%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Murphy Oil and Chord Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Murphy Oil	$2.69 billion	2.05	$104.23 million	$0.72	53.39
Chord Energy	$4.88 billion	1.56	$44.46 million	$0.63	213.45

Murphy Oil has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Chord Energy. Murphy Oil is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Chord Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Murphy Oil and Chord Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Murphy Oil	1	12	2	0	2.07
Chord Energy	0	4	10	1	2.80

Murphy Oil presently has a consensus target price of $33.27, indicating a potential downside of 13.44%. Chord Energy has a consensus target price of $152.23, indicating a potential upside of 13.20%. Given Chord Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Chord Energy is more favorable than Murphy Oil.

Volatility and Risk

Murphy Oil has a beta of 0.59, suggesting that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chord Energy has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

78.3% of Murphy Oil shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.8% of Chord Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.8% of Murphy Oil shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Chord Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Chord Energy beats Murphy Oil on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

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. The company was incorporated in 1950 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Chord Energy

Chord Energy Corporation operates as an independent exploration and production company in the United States. It acquires, explores, develops, and produces crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in the Williston Basin. The company sells its products to refiners, marketers, and other purchasers that have access to nearby pipeline and rail facilities. The company was formerly known as Oasis Petroleum Inc. and changed its name to Chord Energy Corporation in July 2022. Chord Energy Corporation was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.