Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Announces $0.48 Dividend

Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) announced a dividend on Thursday, October 24th, NASDAQ reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a dividend of 0.48 per share by the specialty retailer on Monday, December 2nd. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th.

Murphy USA has raised its dividend payment by an average of 83.7% annually over the last three years. Murphy USA has a dividend payout ratio of 6.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Murphy USA to earn $27.08 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.6%.

Murphy USA Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE MUSA opened at $473.33 on Friday. Murphy USA has a 12-month low of $350.55 and a 12-month high of $552.30. The company has a market capitalization of $9.70 billion, a PE ratio of 19.14 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. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $499.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $472.85.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty retailer reported $6.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.91 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.69 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 64.73%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.02 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Murphy USA will post 23.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Murphy USA

In other news, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 16,755 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $514.54, for a total value of $8,621,117.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 396,384 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,955,423.36. This represents a 0.00 % 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. In other news, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 16,755 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $514.54, for a total value of $8,621,117.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 396,384 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,955,423.36. This represents a 0.00 % 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. Also, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,209 shares of company stock valued at $16,564,666 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 9.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MUSA shares. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $415.00 to $435.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Murphy USA presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $464.57.

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.