Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.56 EPS

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.64 by $0.56, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.54 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 64.73%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $7.69 EPS.

Murphy USA Trading Up 4.4 %

NYSE:MUSA traded up $20.88 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $493.51. The company had a trading volume of 195,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 198,181. Murphy USA has a 1 year low of $350.55 and a 1 year high of $552.30. The company has a market cap of $10.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.87 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50-day moving average of $497.83 and a 200 day moving average of $474.64. 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 Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.76%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MUSA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com lowered Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 26th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $415.00 to $435.00 in a report on Thursday, September 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $495.33.

Insider Activity at Murphy USA

In other news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,242,955.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Murphy USA news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total value of $1,023,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,242,955.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 13,454 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $514.38, for a total transaction of $6,920,468.52. Following the sale, the director now owns 382,930 shares in the company, valued at $196,971,533.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 32,209 shares of company stock valued at $16,564,666. 9.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.