Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Monday.

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $415.00 to $435.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $509.40.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

NYSE MUSA opened at $483.60 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.95 and a beta of 0.80. Murphy USA has a twelve month low of $350.55 and a twelve month high of $561.08. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $522.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $505.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.64 by $0.56. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.54 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 62.73% and a net margin of 2.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $7.69 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Murphy USA will post 23.51 EPS for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is 7.92%.

Institutional Trading of Murphy USA

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MUSA. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 22.2% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 8,385 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,133,000 after acquiring an additional 1,526 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 6.1% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 35,240 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $17,369,000 after purchasing an additional 2,028 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Murphy USA during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,573,000. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,207,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Murphy USA by 69.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 428,379 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $211,135,000 after buying an additional 176,308 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

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.