Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $526.39 and last traded at $526.2070, with a volume of 9422 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $507.56.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MUSA shares. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $467.00 to $445.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. KeyCorp set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Murphy USA from $410.00 to $400.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $447.33.

Murphy USA Trading Up 3.7%

The firm has a market capitalization of $9.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.70, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $432.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $407.22.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The specialty retailer reported $7.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $0.86. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.43% and a return on equity of 75.75%. The business had revenue of $4.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.63 per share. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 23rd. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is 10.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy USA

In related news, Director Jeanne Linder Phillips sold 1,155 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $395.19, for a total transaction of $456,444.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,543 shares in the company, valued at $609,778.17. This trade represents a 42.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Keith A. Emery sold 899 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $382.53, for a total value of $343,894.47. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 14,970 shares of company stock worth $6,212,365 in the last 90 days. 9.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy USA

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 132,705 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $51,524,000 after purchasing an additional 4,468 shares in the last quarter. Southernsun Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 13.7% during the 2nd quarter. Southernsun Asset Management LLC now owns 74,908 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $30,473,000 after purchasing an additional 9,051 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 20.2% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 138,998 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $53,967,000 after purchasing an additional 23,349 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in Murphy USA by 60.1% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 13,667 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $5,405,000 after acquiring an additional 5,128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC grew its position in Murphy USA by 200.8% during the 3rd quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 6,714 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,607,000 after acquiring an additional 4,482 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

About Murphy USA

Murphy USA is a leading downstream marketer of gasoline, diesel and convenience store products in the United States. Headquartered in El Dorado, Arkansas, the company was originally established as part of Murphy Oil Corporation and was spun off as an independent public entity in 2013. Since its separation, Murphy USA has focused on retail fueling services and convenience offerings designed to deliver value and convenience to consumers.

The company’s primary operations center on two retail formats.