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

Shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $509.40.

MUSA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $415.00 to $435.00 in a report on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Murphy USA

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,751,206 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $863,116,000 after purchasing an additional 99,253 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Murphy USA by 1.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 590,558 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $291,068,000 after purchasing an additional 8,507 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Murphy USA by 69.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 428,379 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $211,135,000 after purchasing an additional 176,308 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Murphy USA by 49,501.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 388,874 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $191,664,000 after purchasing an additional 388,090 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Murphy USA by 4.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 388,271 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $191,407,000 after purchasing an additional 16,006 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MUSA opened at $500.41 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.80. Murphy USA has a one year low of $350.55 and a one year high of $561.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.64 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s fifty day moving average is $521.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $504.53.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.64 by $0.56. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.48% and a return on equity of 62.73%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $7.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Murphy USA will post 23.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is 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.