Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $495.33.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MUSA shares. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $415.00 to $435.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total transaction of $1,023,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,242,955.56. The trade was a 11.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 9.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy USA

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in Murphy USA by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 788 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Murphy USA during the third quarter valued at $439,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Murphy USA by 11.9% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,934 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $954,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Murphy USA by 4.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 388,271 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $191,407,000 after purchasing an additional 16,006 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 46.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 9,890 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,135 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

Shares of MUSA opened at $524.30 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $497.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $484.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.62 billion, a PE ratio of 21.63 and a beta of 0.75. Murphy USA has a one year low of $350.55 and a one year high of $552.30.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.64 by $0.56. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 62.73% and a net margin of 2.48%. The firm’s revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $7.69 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Murphy USA will post 23.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.37%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.92%.

About Murphy USA

Murphy USA Inc engages in marketing of retail motor fuel products and convenience merchandise. The company operates retail stores under the Murphy USA, Murphy Express, and QuickChek brands, as well as operates non-fuel convenience stores. It operates retail gasoline stores principally in the Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest United States.