Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Sells 5,695 Shares of Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lowered its stake in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 73.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,083 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 5,695 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $809,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUSA. Vista Finance LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vista Finance LLC now owns 646 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $263,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Fortune Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Murphy USA by 1.6% during the second quarter. Fortune Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,821 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $741,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 0.3% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,902 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $5,249,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 4.5% in the second quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,001 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $407,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 7.7% during the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 599 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MUSA. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Murphy USA from $480.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Murphy USA in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $405.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $474.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy USA

In other news, CEO R Andrew Clyde sold 16,250 shares of Murphy USA 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 59,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,564,058.76. The trade was a 21.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 10.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

Shares of Murphy USA stock opened at $405.35 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.10 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50-day moving average of $383.26 and a 200 day moving average of $391.20. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12 month low of $345.23 and a 12 month high of $523.09.

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

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th were paid a $0.63 dividend. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.63%.

Murphy USA Company Profile

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.