Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $579.5556.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MUSA. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $450.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $550.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Capital One Financial initiated coverage on Murphy USA in a report on Monday, June 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $710.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Murphy USA in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $539.00 price target on the stock.

Murphy USA Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:MUSA opened at $590.59 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $560.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $485.17. Murphy USA has a fifty-two week low of $345.23 and a fifty-two week high of $636.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.91 billion, a PE ratio of 20.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.30.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.37 by $1.91. The business had revenue of $4.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.70 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 91.05% and a net margin of 2.81%.Murphy USA’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.63 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Murphy USA will post 32.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were given a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is 8.85%.

Insider Transactions at Murphy USA

In other Murphy USA news, SVP Scott G. Woodward sold 158 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.50, for a total value of $94,879.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 476 shares in the company, valued at approximately $285,838. The trade was a 24.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 41,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $596.96, for a total transaction of $24,773,840.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 342,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,286,875.52. This represents a 10.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 46,225 shares of company stock worth $27,363,392. Corporate insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new stake in Murphy USA during the 2nd quarter worth about $36,189,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the 2nd quarter valued at about $611,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the second quarter valued at about $5,488,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 1.2% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,625 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $876,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Murphy USA by 15.7% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 412 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Company Profile

Murphy USA is a leading downstream marketer of gasoline, diesel and convenience store products in the United States. Headquartered in El Dorado, Arkansas, the company was originally established as part of Murphy Oil Corporation and was spun off as an independent public entity in 2013. Since its separation, Murphy USA has focused on retail fueling services and convenience offerings designed to deliver value and convenience to consumers.

The company’s primary operations center on two retail formats.