Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Increases Dividend to $0.45 Per Share

Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 15th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 26th will be paid a dividend of 0.45 per share by the specialty retailer on Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 26th. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44.

Murphy USA has raised its dividend payment by an average of 83.7% per year over the last three years. Murphy USA has a dividend payout ratio of 6.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Murphy USA to earn $27.24 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.5%.

Murphy USA Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of MUSA opened at $512.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Murphy USA has a 12 month low of $307.45 and a 12 month high of $521.54. The stock has a market cap of $10.61 billion, a PE ratio of 21.50 and a beta of 0.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $485.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $438.23.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty retailer reported $6.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.91 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 64.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $6.02 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Murphy USA will post 24.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on MUSA shares. Raymond James lifted 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. Royal Bank of Canada decreased 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 report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $469.50.

Insider Activity

In other Murphy USA news, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 16,755 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $514.54, for a total transaction of $8,621,117.70. Following the sale, the director now owns 396,384 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,955,423.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Murphy USA news, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 16,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 396,384 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,955,423.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO R Andrew Clyde sold 10,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $440.32, for a total transaction of $4,575,805.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 199,563 shares in the company, valued at $87,871,580.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,455 shares of company stock valued at $20,492,084. Insiders own 9.04% of the company’s stock.

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.