Murphy USA Inc. (MUSA) To Go Ex-Dividend on August 24th

Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 24th will be paid a dividend of 0.65 per share by the specialty retailer on Thursday, September 3rd. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 24th. This is a 1.6% increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64.

Murphy USA has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.5%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 4 years. Murphy USA has a dividend payout ratio of 9.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Murphy USA to earn $29.58 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 8.7%.

Murphy USA Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE:MUSA opened at $569.26 on Friday. Murphy USA has a 1 year low of $349.83 and a 1 year high of $636.04. The stock has a market cap of $10.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.33, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.28. The business has a fifty day moving average of $578.36 and a 200-day moving average of $514.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty retailer reported $11.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.95 by $1.32. The business had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.03 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.87% and a return on equity of 96.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 36.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $7.36 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Murphy USA will post 33.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MUSA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $550.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $619.00 target price on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Murphy USA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $380.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $606.89.

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.