Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Melius

Stock analysts at Melius assumed coverage on shares of Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) in a research note issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target on the specialty retailer’s stock. Melius’ target price indicates a potential upside of 32.69% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on MUSA. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $550.00 to $554.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $555.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $525.67.

Murphy USA Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of Murphy USA stock opened at $452.19 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.05 billion, a PE ratio of 18.69 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $482.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $501.17. Murphy USA has a 52-week low of $382.04 and a 52-week high of $561.08.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The specialty retailer reported $6.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.46 by $0.50. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.48% and a return on equity of 61.60%. On average, analysts expect that Murphy USA will post 26.45 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Murphy USA

In other Murphy USA news, Director Jeanne Linder Phillips sold 797 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.31, for a total transaction of $360,491.07. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,062,476.19. This represents a 25.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Renee M. Bacon sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.58, for a total transaction of $939,160.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 5,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,783,200.66. This represents a 25.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,594 shares of company stock valued at $1,695,043. 9.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy USA

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUSA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Murphy USA by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,864,405 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $935,465,000 after purchasing an additional 54,658 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in Murphy USA by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,783,849 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $895,046,000 after purchasing an additional 32,643 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Murphy USA by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 590,558 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $291,068,000 after purchasing an additional 8,507 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Murphy USA by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 470,602 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $236,125,000 after purchasing an additional 18,097 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Murphy USA by 69.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 428,379 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $211,135,000 after purchasing an additional 176,308 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

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.