Brokerages Set Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Price Target at $447.33

Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $447.3333.

MUSA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy USA in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $467.00 to $445.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $410.00 to $400.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, KeyCorp set a $500.00 target price on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Thursday, February 5th.

Murphy USA Price Performance

MUSA opened at $497.53 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.49, a PEG ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.40. Murphy USA has a 12-month low of $345.23 and a 12-month high of $523.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $425.68 and a 200-day moving average of $403.44.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The specialty retailer reported $7.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $0.86. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.43% and a return on equity of 75.75%. The business had revenue of $4.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.96 EPS. Murphy USA’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Murphy USA will post 26.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 23rd were given a $0.63 dividend. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 23rd. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is currently 10.38%.

Insider Transactions at Murphy USA

In other Murphy USA news, SVP Keith A. Emery sold 899 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $382.53, for a total value of $343,894.47. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 2,844 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $388.61, for a total transaction of $1,105,206.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 3,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,198,084.63. This represents a 47.98% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 14,970 shares of company stock worth $6,212,365. 9.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy USA

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUSA. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $792,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in Murphy USA by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 2,393 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $973,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Murphy USA by 1.5% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 40,843 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $16,615,000 after buying an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Murphy USA by 6.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 60,024 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $24,418,000 after buying an additional 3,456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 29.2% during the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 1,590 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $647,000 after buying an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Murphy USA

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.