Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA Shares Purchased by Creative Planning

Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,393 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 204 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $973,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Murphy USA by 34.6% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,629 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $663,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in Murphy USA by 6.1% during the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 4,620 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,879,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 154.5% during the second quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 6,305 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,565,000 after purchasing an additional 3,828 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its position in shares of Murphy USA by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 104,464 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $42,496,000 after buying an additional 1,655 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 6,891 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,803,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $480.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Zacks Research upgraded Murphy USA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Murphy USA in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $405.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $474.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO R Andrew Clyde sold 16,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.33, for a total value of $6,196,612.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 59,172 shares in the company, valued at $22,564,058.76. This represents a 21.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 10.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

MUSA opened at $385.07 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07. The business’s 50 day moving average is $377.07 and its 200-day moving average is $396.06. The stock has a market cap of $7.21 billion, a PE ratio of 16.24 and a beta of 0.39. Murphy USA Inc. has a twelve month low of $345.23 and a twelve month high of $558.34.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.60 by $0.65. The firm had revenue of $5.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.11 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 69.87% and a net margin of 2.43%.The firm’s revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $7.20 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.63 per share. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 10th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.63%.

Murphy USA Company Profile

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.