Capital One Financial Initiates Coverage on Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA)

Key Points

• Capital One Financial initiated coverage on Murphy USA with an overweight rating and a $710 price target, implying about 28.9% upside from the current share price.
• Murphy USA has received a mixed analyst backdrop overall, with the current consensus rating at Moderate Buy and an average target price of $539.50.
• The company recently posted strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, while its stock is trading near recent highs after opening at $550.85.

Equities research analysts at Capital One Financial assumed coverage on shares of Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA - Get Free Report) in a research note issued to investors on Monday. The brokerage set an "overweight" rating and a $710.00 price target on the specialty retailer's stock. Capital One Financial's target price would suggest a potential upside of 28.89% from the stock's current price.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on MUSA. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Murphy USA from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Zacks Research raised shares of Murphy USA from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Murphy USA from $510.00 to $517.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Murphy USA from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Murphy USA from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $350.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $539.50.

Murphy USA Price Performance

Shares of MUSA opened at $550.85 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $10.17 billion, a PE ratio of 19.04, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.30. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $545.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $468.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.83. Murphy USA has a twelve month low of $345.23 and a twelve month high of $636.04.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $4.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.63 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Murphy USA will post 32.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Murphy USA

In other news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.44, for a total transaction of $555,912.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 3,083 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,632,263.52. This trade represents a 25.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Diane N. Landen sold 3,000 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $547.25, for a total value of $1,641,750.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 53,841 shares in the company, valued at $29,464,487.25. The trade was a 5.28% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 46,225 shares of company stock worth $27,363,392. 9.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy USA

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MUSA. Verus Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Murphy USA by 40.0% during the first quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 844 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the period. Bull Harbor Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy USA during the first quarter valued at approximately $365,000. Amundi bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $438,000. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 20.5% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 20,820 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $10,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,545 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 12,797 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $6,322,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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