Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. Increases Position in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 49.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,116 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 3,671 shares during the quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Murphy USA worth $4,316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in Murphy USA by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $792,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 340.7% during the second quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 7,778 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,164,000 after purchasing an additional 6,013 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Murphy USA in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,579,000. BTC Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Murphy USA by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,081 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $438,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Murphy USA by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $521,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MUSA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Murphy USA in a research note on Friday, January 9th. They issued an “underperform” rating on the stock. Zacks Research raised Murphy USA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Monday, December 29th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Murphy USA from $480.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Murphy USA in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $405.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $474.00.

Murphy USA Price Performance

MUSA opened at $452.63 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.48 billion, a PE ratio of 19.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.39. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $397.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $392.95. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1 year low of $345.23 and a 1 year high of $523.09.

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

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th were given a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. 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 dividend yield of 0.6%. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is currently 10.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Murphy USA news, CEO R Andrew Clyde sold 24,733 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.33, for a total value of $9,431,434.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 131,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,963,381.92. This trade represents a 15.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Malynda K. West sold 4,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.00, for a total value of $1,721,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 117,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,890,325. This represents a 3.34% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 45,034 shares of company stock worth $17,349,722. Insiders own 9.04% of the company’s stock.

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.