Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) Price Target Raised to $625.00 at Bank of America

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) had its target price lifted by analysts at Bank of America from $600.00 to $625.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 5.75% from the stock’s current price.

MUSA has been the topic of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Murphy USA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Zacks Research lowered Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Murphy USA from $510.00 to $517.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $550.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Murphy USA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $380.00 to $550.00 in a report on Monday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $579.56.

Murphy USA Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:MUSA traded up $6.25 during trading on Friday, reaching $590.99. The stock had a trading volume of 93,030 shares, compared to its average volume of 344,616. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $558.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $483.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24. The stock has a market cap of $10.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.43, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.30. Murphy USA has a fifty-two week low of $345.23 and a fifty-two week high of $636.04.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.37 by $1.91. The firm had revenue of $4.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.70 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.81% and a return on equity of 91.05%. Murphy USA’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.63 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Murphy USA will post 32.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Murphy USA

In other news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.44, for a total value of $555,912.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 3,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,632,263.52. This represents a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 41,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $596.96, for a total transaction of $24,773,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 342,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,286,875.52. This represents a 10.82% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 46,225 shares of company stock valued at $27,363,392 in the last three months. 9.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Murphy USA

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUSA. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Murphy USA by 149.9% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 507,418 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $204,753,000 after acquiring an additional 304,354 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 676.7% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 170,215 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $69,243,000 after acquiring an additional 148,301 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the 4th quarter worth about $50,726,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 1,723.1% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 132,450 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $53,446,000 after purchasing an additional 125,185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 45.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 318,473 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $128,511,000 after purchasing an additional 99,798 shares in the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.