1,371 Shares in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA Bought by Simplicity Wealth LLC

Simplicity Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 1,371 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $739,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Murphy USA by 149.9% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 507,418 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $204,753,000 after purchasing an additional 304,354 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 676.7% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 170,215 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $69,243,000 after purchasing an additional 148,301 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the second quarter worth about $78,372,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy USA during the fourth quarter worth about $50,726,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 45.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 318,473 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $128,511,000 after purchasing an additional 99,798 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Capital One Financial assumed coverage on Murphy USA in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $710.00 target price on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $380.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.89.

Insider Activity at Murphy USA

In related news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.44, for a total value of $555,912.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 3,083 shares in the company, valued at $1,632,263.52. The trade was a 25.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Diane N. Landen sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director owned 53,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,464,487.25. This represents a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 9.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Murphy USA Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of MUSA opened at $583.51 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.77, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.28. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52 week low of $349.83 and a 52 week high of $636.04. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $579.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $515.75. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty retailer reported $11.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.95 by $1.32. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 96.01% and a net margin of 2.87%.The company had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $7.36 earnings per share. Murphy USA’s quarterly revenue was up 36.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Murphy USA Inc. will post 33.84 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 24th. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is 7.80%.

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.