Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on MUSA. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Murphy USA from $555.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $550.00 to $554.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Murphy USA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.80.

Murphy USA Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MUSA opened at $478.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $9.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.79 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $508.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $506.94. Murphy USA has a fifty-two week low of $371.30 and a fifty-two week high of $561.08.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The specialty retailer reported $6.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.46 by $0.50. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 61.60% and a net margin of 2.48%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Murphy USA will post 26.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy USA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUSA. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 49,501.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 388,874 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $191,664,000 after buying an additional 388,090 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 176,308 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the third quarter worth $53,387,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Murphy USA during the fourth quarter valued at $53,777,000. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in Murphy USA by 6.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,751,206 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $863,116,000 after purchasing an additional 99,253 shares during the period. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.