Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) Trading Down 9.3% – Time to Sell?

Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) shares dropped 9.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $515.01 and last traded at $527.0750. Approximately 42,170 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 332,518 shares. The stock had previously closed at $580.94.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MUSA. Wall Street Zen raised Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 27th. Capital One Financial started coverage on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $710.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $550.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $619.00 target price on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $596.44.

Murphy USA Trading Down 10.4%

The business’s fifty day moving average is $575.43 and its 200-day moving average is $508.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $9.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.28.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty retailer reported $11.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.95 by $1.32. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.81% and a return on equity of 91.05%. The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $7.36 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 36.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.44, for a total value of $555,912.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 3,083 shares in the company, valued at $1,632,263.52. This represents a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Diane N. Landen sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $547.25, for a total value of $1,641,750.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 53,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,464,487.25. This represents a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 4,567 shares of company stock valued at $2,494,673 over the last 90 days. 9.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUSA. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Murphy USA by 149.9% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 507,418 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $204,753,000 after purchasing an additional 304,354 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Murphy USA by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 506,214 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $204,267,000 after buying an additional 7,973 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Murphy USA by 45.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 318,473 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $128,511,000 after buying an additional 99,798 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Murphy USA by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 300,758 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $121,365,000 after acquiring an additional 1,930 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 676.7% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 170,215 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $69,243,000 after acquiring an additional 148,301 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

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.