Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Receives $474.00 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $474.00.

MUSA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Murphy USA in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $405.00 target price on the stock. Zacks Research raised Murphy USA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $480.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy USA in a research note on Monday, December 15th.

Murphy USA Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE MUSA opened at $405.61 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $380.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $391.78. The company has a market capitalization of $7.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.11 and a beta of 0.40. Murphy USA has a 12 month low of $345.23 and a 12 month high of $532.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.60 by $0.65. The business had revenue of $5.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.11 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.43% and a return on equity of 69.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $7.20 EPS. As a group, research 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th were given a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is currently 10.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Murphy USA news, CEO R Andrew Clyde sold 16,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.33, for a total value of $6,196,612.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 59,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,564,058.76. This trade represents a 21.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 9.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Murphy USA

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MUSA. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 318.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 424,818 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $164,940,000 after acquiring an additional 323,331 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Murphy USA during the 2nd quarter valued at $93,967,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $73,573,000 after purchasing an additional 176,036 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 676.7% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 170,215 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $69,243,000 after purchasing an additional 148,301 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 902.2% in the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 153,202 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $71,976,000 after buying an additional 137,915 shares in the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.