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

Key Points

• Murphy USA Inc. has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from ten brokerages, with an average 12-month price target of $483.17.
• Insider activity includes COO Malynda K. West selling 1,859 shares, while Director Robert Madison Murphy acquired 5,000 shares, indicating varying levels of confidence among executives.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.50 to $0.53 per share, reflecting a commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $483.1667.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MUSA. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $520.00 to $440.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 1st. Zacks Research raised shares of Murphy USA from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $480.00 price objective on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Friday, September 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Murphy USA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $350.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, August 1st.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Malynda K. West sold 1,859 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $386.22, for a total value of $717,982.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 117,389 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,337,979.58. This trade represents a 1.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $367.01 per share, with a total value of $1,835,050.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 389,172 shares in the company, valued at $142,830,015.72. The trade was a 1.30% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 9.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 491,641 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $200,000,000 after acquiring an additional 95,259 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 446,654 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $181,732,000 after acquiring an additional 3,447 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 442,130 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $207,717,000 after acquiring an additional 22,733 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 94.0% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 371,667 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $174,613,000 after acquiring an additional 180,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 21.1% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 268,373 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $126,065,000 after acquiring an additional 46,677 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company's stock.

Murphy USA Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Murphy USA stock opened at $394.42 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.33 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.20, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a fifty day moving average of $385.35 and a 200 day moving average of $426.74. Murphy USA has a fifty-two week low of $345.23 and a fifty-two week high of $561.08.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.82 by $0.54. The company had revenue of $5.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.17 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.52% and a return on equity of 64.63%. Murphy USA's quarterly revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.92 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Murphy USA will post 26.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 25th were issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. This is a boost from Murphy USA's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 25th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Murphy USA's payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

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.

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