Pathstone Holdings LLC Boosts Stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Pathstone Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,129 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 122 shares during the quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $3,021,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Murphy USA by 49,501.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 388,874 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $191,664,000 after purchasing an additional 388,090 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy USA during the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,387,000. Argent Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 1,359.6% in the 2nd quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 93,326 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $43,813,000 after acquiring an additional 86,932 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in Murphy USA by 232.2% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 35,378 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $17,437,000 after acquiring an additional 24,727 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Murphy USA by 14.6% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 97,011 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $45,543,000 after purchasing an additional 12,336 shares during the period. 80.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MUSA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $415.00 to $435.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 26th. Raymond James boosted their target price on Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $495.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Murphy USA news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total value of $1,023,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. This trade represents a 11.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 9.04% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

Shares of MUSA stock opened at $545.34 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $11.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50 and a beta of 0.75. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52-week low of $350.55 and a 52-week high of $552.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19. The company’s 50 day moving average is $497.63 and its 200 day moving average is $487.30.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.64 by $0.56. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.54 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 62.73% and a net margin of 2.48%. The business’s revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $7.69 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 23.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.92%.

Murphy USA Profile

Murphy USA Inc engages in marketing of retail motor fuel products and convenience merchandise. The company operates retail stores under the Murphy USA, Murphy Express, and QuickChek brands, as well as operates non-fuel convenience stores. It operates retail gasoline stores principally in the Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest United States.