Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James lifted their target price on Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $415.00 to $435.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $464.57.

Murphy USA Price Performance

MUSA opened at $499.59 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20. Murphy USA has a 12-month low of $339.96 and a 12-month high of $552.30. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $509.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $463.66.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty retailer reported $6.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.91 by $0.01. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 64.73%. The company had revenue of $5.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $6.02 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy USA will post 24.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total transaction of $1,023,080.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,114 shares in the company, valued at $8,242,955.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 13,454 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $514.38, for a total value of $6,920,468.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 382,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,971,533.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total value of $1,023,080.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 32,209 shares of company stock valued at $16,564,666. 9.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MUSA. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 1,091.4% during the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 14,464 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $6,063,000 after purchasing an additional 13,250 shares during the last quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in Murphy USA during the first quarter worth $1,258,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Murphy USA by 21.2% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 16,673 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $6,991,000 after buying an additional 2,911 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Murphy USA in the fourth quarter valued at $8,949,000. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its position in shares of Murphy USA by 10.3% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 13,461 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $5,646,000 after acquiring an additional 1,254 shares during the period. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.