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

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 earnings per share (EPS) 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 return on equity of 63.18% and a net margin of 2.48%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $7.69 EPS.

Murphy USA Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE MUSA traded up $3.46 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $491.91. 8,497 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 197,828. Murphy USA has a one year low of $350.55 and a one year high of $552.30. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $497.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $474.64. The company has a market cap of $10.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.15 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders 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%. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 26th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $415.00 to $435.00 in a report on Thursday, September 19th. One equities research 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $495.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Murphy USA news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,242,955.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 16,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $514.54, for a total transaction of $8,621,117.70. Following the sale, the director now owns 396,384 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,955,423.36. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. 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 corporate 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.