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

Shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nine analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $503.7143.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $510.00 to $517.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. 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 report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $450.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st.

Murphy USA Price Performance

Shares of MUSA stock opened at $612.30 on Thursday. Murphy USA has a 1 year low of $345.23 and a 1 year high of $614.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $534.86 and its 200-day moving average is $458.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.16, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $4.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.63 earnings per share. Murphy USA’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy USA will post 32.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.44, for a total value of $555,912.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 3,083 shares in the company, valued at $1,632,263.52. This represents a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Scott G. Woodward sold 158 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.50, for a total transaction of $94,879.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 476 shares in the company, valued at $285,838. This represents 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 over the last three months. 9.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy USA

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MUSA. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Murphy USA by 10.2% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $792,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Murphy USA by 423.1% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy USA in the second quarter worth $603,000. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy USA in the second quarter worth $596,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new stake in Murphy USA in the second quarter worth $227,000. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.