Johnson Financial Group Inc. Buys New Position in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,281 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $690,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Huntington National Bank raised its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 106.7% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 423.1% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 82.5% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 73 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. WPG Advisers LLC boosted its position in Murphy USA by 148.5% during the fourth quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 82 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Murphy USA during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Price Performance

Shares of MUSA opened at $567.91 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.29, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $578.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $517.88. Murphy USA Inc. has a twelve month low of $349.83 and a twelve month high of $636.04.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty retailer reported $11.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.95 by $1.32. The business had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 33.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 24th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 24th. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MUSA. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Murphy USA from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Capital One Financial began coverage on Murphy USA in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $710.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Murphy USA from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Murphy USA from $520.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Murphy USA currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $606.89.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Diane N. Landen sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $547.25, for a total transaction of $1,641,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 53,841 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,464,487.25. This represents a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.44, for a total transaction of $555,912.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 3,083 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,632,263.52. This trade represents a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 9.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.