Brokerages Set Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Target Price at $495.33

Shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $495.33.

MUSA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com cut Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $415.00 to $435.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Murphy USA news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total value of $1,023,080.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,242,955.56. The trade was a 11.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 9.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Murphy USA

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Murphy USA by 49,501.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 388,874 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $191,664,000 after buying an additional 388,090 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new position in Murphy USA in the third quarter valued at approximately $53,387,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 6.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,751,206 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $863,116,000 after acquiring an additional 99,253 shares during the last quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 1,359.6% during the 2nd quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 93,326 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $43,813,000 after acquiring an additional 86,932 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,122,000. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Murphy USA Trading Up 0.1 %

Murphy USA stock opened at $529.19 on Wednesday. Murphy USA has a 1 year low of $350.55 and a 1 year high of $552.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $497.14 and its 200-day moving average is $481.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $10.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.83 and a beta of 0.75.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.64 by $0.56. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 62.73% and a net margin of 2.48%. The business’s revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $7.69 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Murphy USA will post 23.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is currently 7.92%.

About Murphy USA

Murphy USA Inc engages in marketing of retail motor fuel products and convenience merchandise. The company operates retail stores under the Murphy USA, Murphy Express, and QuickChek brands, as well as operates non-fuel convenience stores. It operates retail gasoline stores principally in the Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest United States.