Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA Shares Sold by IPG Investment Advisors LLC

IPG Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 32.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 22,422 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 10,630 shares during the quarter. Murphy USA comprises approximately 1.7% of IPG Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. IPG Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $12,083,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Huntington National Bank increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 106.7% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Murphy USA by 423.1% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Murphy USA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in Murphy USA by 82.5% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 73 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keating Financial Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy USA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Murphy USA news, SVP Eric J. Bartko sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $523.60, for a total value of $52,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $131,947.20. This represents a 28.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Rosemary Turner sold 966 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $571.88, for a total value of $552,436.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,774.12. This represents a 68.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 9.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $619.00 price target on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Murphy USA from $520.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $550.00 to $625.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Capital One Financial started coverage on Murphy USA in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $710.00 target price on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.89.

Murphy USA Stock Down 0.3%

MUSA opened at $516.37 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $569.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $531.63. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52 week low of $349.83 and a 52 week high of $636.04. The firm has a market cap of $9.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.72, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty retailer reported $11.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.95 by $1.32. The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.03 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 96.01% and a net margin of 2.87%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 36.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $7.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 34.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 24th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 24th. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is 7.92%.

Murphy USA 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.