Brokerages Set Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Target Price at $509.40

Shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $509.40.

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy USA

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 22.2% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 8,385 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,133,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Murphy USA during the fourth quarter worth approximately $11,529,000. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in Murphy USA during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,207,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Murphy USA by 6.1% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 35,240 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $17,369,000 after buying an additional 2,028 shares during the period. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Murphy USA during the third quarter worth approximately $1,573,000. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

NYSE:MUSA opened at $494.24 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $514.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $506.79. Murphy USA has a twelve month low of $350.55 and a twelve month high of $561.08. The company has a market capitalization of $10.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.39 and a beta of 0.80.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.64 by $0.56. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.48% and a return on equity of 62.73%. The company’s revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $7.69 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Murphy USA will post 23.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.