JPMorgan Chase & Co. Downgrades Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) to Underweight

JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) from a neutral rating to an underweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has $435.00 price target on the specialty retailer’s stock, up from their previous price target of $415.00.

MUSA has been the topic of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Murphy USA from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Two equities research analysts have 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $464.57.

Murphy USA Trading Up 0.8 %

MUSA stock opened at $496.47 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.83 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.52. Murphy USA has a 1-year low of $338.80 and a 1-year high of $552.30. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $510.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $461.19.

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

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Murphy USA

In related 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 directly owns 16,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $8,242,955.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 13,454 shares of the firm’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 value of $6,920,468.52. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 382,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,971,533.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 32,209 shares of company stock worth $16,564,666. 9.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 35.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in Murphy USA by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 188 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Murphy USA during the 4th quarter valued at $81,560,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 8.2% in the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Murphy USA by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,884 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,594,000 after buying an additional 1,438 shares in the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.