Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA is IPG Investment Advisors LLC’s 10th Largest Position

IPG Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,133 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 1,064 shares during the quarter. Murphy USA comprises 2.1% of IPG Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. IPG Investment Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.16% of Murphy USA worth $12,159,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 20.2% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 138,998 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $53,967,000 after buying an additional 23,349 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 132,705 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $51,524,000 after buying an additional 4,468 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 22,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $8,775,000 after buying an additional 2,939 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 63,638 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $24,708,000 after buying an additional 3,614 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management purchased a new position in Murphy USA during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,134,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Stock Down 3.0%

Shares of MUSA opened at $515.22 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $9.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.36. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $522.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $446.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1 year low of $345.23 and a 1 year high of $609.82.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.37 by $1.91. The business had revenue of $4.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.70 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 91.05% and a net margin of 2.81%.Murphy USA’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.63 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 31.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be paid a $0.64 dividend. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 18th. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is currently 8.85%.

Insider Transactions at Murphy USA

In other Murphy USA news, SVP Scott G. Woodward sold 158 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.50, for a total value of $94,879.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $285,838. This represents a 24.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 41,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $596.96, for a total value of $24,773,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 342,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,286,875.52. This represents a 10.82% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 43,362 shares of company stock worth $25,779,517 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MUSA. Zacks Research raised Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen raised Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Murphy USA in a report on Thursday, March 26th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $539.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America raised Murphy USA from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $350.00 to $550.00 in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Murphy USA from $560.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.71.

About Murphy USA

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.