Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Receives $476.29 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $476.2857.

MUSA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $480.00 target price on shares of Murphy USA in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Murphy USA from $520.00 to $440.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Zacks Research raised Murphy USA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $350.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, August 1st.

Insider Transactions at Murphy USA

In other Murphy USA news, Director Robert Madison Murphy purchased 5,000 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $367.01 per share, with a total value of $1,835,050.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 389,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,830,015.72. This trade represents a 1.30% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Malynda K. West sold 1,859 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $386.22, for a total value of $717,982.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 117,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,337,979.58. This represents a 1.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 9.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MUSA. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Murphy USA by 53,469.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 553,906 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $260,231,000 after buying an additional 552,872 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Murphy USA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $93,967,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Murphy USA by 94.0% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 371,667 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $174,613,000 after buying an additional 180,055 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its holdings in Murphy USA by 3,650.7% during the 2nd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 180,858 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $73,573,000 after buying an additional 176,036 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted 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 buying an additional 148,301 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Price Performance

MUSA stock opened at $393.03 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.20, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.80. Murphy USA has a 1 year low of $345.23 and a 1 year high of $561.08. The firm has a market cap of $7.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.27 and a beta of 0.44. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $396.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $434.18.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.82 by $0.54. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 64.63% and a net margin of 2.52%.The business had revenue of $5.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $6.92 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Murphy USA will post 26.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Investors of record on Monday, August 25th were issued a $0.53 dividend. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 25th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

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.