Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nine brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $515.1429.

MUSA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen cut Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Murphy USA from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings upgraded Murphy USA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Murphy USA from $510.00 to $517.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Murphy USA from $450.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $1,632,263.52. The trade was a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Scott G. Woodward sold 158 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.50, for a total value of $94,879.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $285,838. The trade was a 24.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 46,225 shares of company stock valued at $27,363,392 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 149.9% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 507,418 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $204,753,000 after acquiring an additional 304,354 shares during the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 506,214 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $204,267,000 after acquiring an additional 7,973 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings 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 worth $164,940,000 after buying an additional 323,331 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 45.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 318,473 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $128,511,000 after acquiring an additional 99,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 0.6% in the 4th 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. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Stock Down 6.0%

MUSA opened at $585.48 on Thursday. Murphy USA has a fifty-two week low of $345.23 and a fifty-two week high of $636.04. 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 company has a market capitalization of $10.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $541.63 and a 200-day moving average of $463.49.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.37 by $1.91. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 91.05% and a net margin of 2.81%.The company had revenue of $4.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Murphy USA will post 32.32 EPS for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a $0.64 dividend. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.85%.

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.