Brokerages Set Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Target Price at $596.44

Shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $596.4444.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MUSA shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $550.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Capital One Financial assumed coverage on Murphy USA in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $710.00 price target on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Murphy USA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $380.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Monday, July 6th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Scott G. Woodward sold 158 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.50, for a total transaction of $94,879.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 476 shares in the company, valued at $285,838. The trade was a 24.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Diane N. Landen sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $547.25, for a total value of $1,641,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 53,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,464,487.25. This represents a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 4,725 shares of company stock valued at $2,589,552 in the last three months. 9.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Murphy USA

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in shares of Murphy USA during the 2nd quarter worth about $36,189,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the second quarter valued at about $611,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the second quarter valued at about $5,488,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Murphy USA by 1.2% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,625 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $876,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Murphy USA by 15.7% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 412 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $222,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MUSA opened at $608.99 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $571.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $505.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.83. Murphy USA has a 52 week low of $345.23 and a 52 week high of $636.04. The firm has a market cap of $11.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.28.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were given a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.85%.

Murphy USA Company Profile

Murphy USA is a leading downstream marketer of gasoline, diesel and convenience store products in the United States. Headquartered in El Dorado, Arkansas, the company was originally established as part of Murphy Oil Corporation and was spun off as an independent public entity in 2013. Since its separation, Murphy USA has focused on retail fueling services and convenience offerings designed to deliver value and convenience to consumers.

The company’s primary operations center on two retail formats.