Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $573.8750.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Murphy USA from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $350.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $550.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp upped their target price on Murphy USA from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Murphy USA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Murphy USA in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $539.00 price target for the company.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Murphy USA news, SVP Scott G. Woodward sold 158 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.50, for a total value of $94,879.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 476 shares in the company, valued at $285,838. This trade represents a 24.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Keith A. Emery sold 517 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.49, for a total transaction of $297,011.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 500 shares in the company, valued at $287,245. This represents a 50.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 46,225 shares of company stock valued at $27,363,392 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Murphy USA

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in Murphy USA by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $792,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Murphy USA by 423.1% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Murphy USA in the second quarter valued at about $603,000. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy USA in the second quarter worth about $596,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new stake in Murphy USA in the second quarter worth about $227,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE:MUSA opened at $561.78 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Murphy USA has a 1-year low of $345.23 and a 1-year high of $636.04. The company has a 50-day moving average of $554.27 and a 200 day moving average of $478.98. The firm has a market cap of $10.38 billion, a PE ratio of 19.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.30.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.37 by $1.91. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.81% and a return on equity of 91.05%. The business had revenue of $4.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.63 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Murphy USA will post 32.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a $0.64 dividend. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. Murphy USA’s 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.