Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 2,300 Shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD trimmed its position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA – Get Rating) by 1.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 236,200 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 2,300 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 1.05% of Murphy USA worth $64,935,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,635,000. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,650,681 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $728,697,000 after purchasing an additional 80,089 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 251.2% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 89,379 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $24,571,000 after purchasing an additional 63,932 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 20.6% in the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 332,877 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $77,518,000 after purchasing an additional 56,905 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 115.3% in the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 89,131 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $24,502,000 after purchasing an additional 47,731 shares during the period. 85.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MUSA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Murphy USA from $335.00 to $305.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Murphy USA from $350.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on Murphy USA in a research note on Wednesday, December 14th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $360.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.60.

Murphy USA Price Performance

MUSA stock opened at $244.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $263.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $279.51. The stock has a market cap of $5.30 billion, a PE ratio of 8.70 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1 year low of $175.09 and a 1 year high of $323.00.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 1st. The specialty retailer reported $5.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.16 by ($0.95). The firm had revenue of $5.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 90.90% and a net margin of 2.87%. Murphy USA’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.23 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 18.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 17th. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is 5.27%.

Murphy USA Company Profile

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Murphy USA, Inc engages in marketing motor fuel products and convenience merchandise through retail stores, namely Murphy USA and Murphy Express. It collaborates with Walmart to offer customers discounted and free items based on purchases of qualifying fuel and merchandise. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in El Dorado, AR.