Brokerages Set Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Price Target at $464.57

Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the seven research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $464.57.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MUSA shares. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Murphy USA from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Murphy USA from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $415.00 to $435.00 in a report on Thursday, September 19th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 16,755 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $514.54, for a total transaction of $8,621,117.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 396,384 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $203,955,423.36. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 16,755 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $514.54, for a total transaction of $8,621,117.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 396,384 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $203,955,423.36. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $1,023,080.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,114 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 32,209 shares of company stock valued at $16,564,666. 9.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy USA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MUSA. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Murphy USA by 0.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 245,220 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $102,797,000 after acquiring an additional 1,519 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Murphy USA by 0.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 204,363 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $95,940,000 after acquiring an additional 1,560 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Murphy USA by 1.2% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 141,637 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $66,493,000 after acquiring an additional 1,635 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in Murphy USA by 1.2% in the first quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 127,160 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $53,305,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Murphy USA by 14.6% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 97,011 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $45,543,000 after acquiring an additional 12,336 shares in the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Murphy USA Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of MUSA traded up $0.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $480.61. 127,711 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 200,550. The firm has a market cap of $9.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.17 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $502.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $471.25. Murphy USA has a 12-month low of $350.55 and a 12-month high of $552.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty retailer reported $6.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.91 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.69 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 64.73%. The business's revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.02 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Murphy USA will post 24.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 26th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is an increase from Murphy USA's previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 26th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.37%. Murphy USA's payout ratio is 7.55%.

Murphy USA Company Profile

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.