Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) Research Coverage Started at Bank of America

Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an underperform rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Monday, December 29th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Murphy USA from $480.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Murphy USA in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $405.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $474.00.

Murphy USA Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of Murphy USA stock opened at $427.08 on Friday. Murphy USA has a 12-month low of $345.23 and a 12-month high of $523.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $390.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $391.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.01 and a beta of 0.39.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.60 by $0.65. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.43% and a return on equity of 69.87%. The company had revenue of $5.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $7.20 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Murphy USA will post 26.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th were paid a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is 10.63%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Malynda K. West sold 4,051 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.00, for a total transaction of $1,721,675.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 117,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,890,325. The trade was a 3.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO R Andrew Clyde sold 24,733 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.33, for a total value of $9,431,434.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 131,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,963,381.92. This trade represents a 15.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 45,034 shares of company stock worth $17,349,722 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 10.12% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Murphy USA

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MUSA. Barclays PLC grew its position in Murphy USA by 318.6% in 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 acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the 2nd quarter valued at $93,967,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 3,650.7% in 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. grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 676.7% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 170,215 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $69,243,000 after purchasing an additional 148,301 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 1,723.1% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 132,450 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $53,446,000 after purchasing an additional 125,185 shares in the last quarter. 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.