Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) Cut to “Underweight” at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) from a neutral rating to an underweight rating in a research note released on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has $435.00 price objective on the specialty retailer’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $415.00.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on MUSA. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Murphy USA from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $464.57.

Murphy USA Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Murphy USA stock opened at $496.47 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $10.29 billion, a PE ratio of 20.83 and a beta of 0.77. Murphy USA has a 1 year low of $338.80 and a 1 year high of $552.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $510.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $461.54.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty retailer reported $6.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.91 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.69 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 64.73%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $6.02 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy USA will post 24.43 EPS for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 26th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 26th. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.55%.

Insider Activity

In other Murphy USA news, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 13,454 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were 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 directly owns 382,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,971,533.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 13,454 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 382,930 shares in the company, valued at $196,971,533.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 16,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,209 shares of company stock worth $16,564,666. 9.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Murphy USA

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MUSA. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in Murphy USA by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 1,073 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 188 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Murphy USA in the 4th quarter worth approximately $81,560,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 45,830 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $16,341,000 after buying an additional 3,482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Murphy USA by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,884 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,594,000 after acquiring an additional 1,438 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.