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

Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,281 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $690,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MUSA. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Murphy USA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $915,734,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 149.9% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 507,418 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $204,753,000 after acquiring an additional 304,354 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 148,301 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Murphy USA in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $78,372,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the fourth quarter worth $50,726,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MUSA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 27th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $550.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Murphy USA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $380.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $655.00 to $633.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $606.89.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy USA

In other Murphy USA news, Director Diane N. Landen sold 3,000 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was 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 directly owned 53,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,464,487.25. The trade was a 5.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 3,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,632,263.52. The trade was a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Price Performance

MUSA stock opened at $567.91 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $10.49 billion, a PE ratio of 17.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $578.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $517.88. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12 month low of $349.83 and a 12 month high of $636.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty retailer reported $11.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.95 by $1.32. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 96.01% and a net margin of 2.87%.The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.03 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $7.36 EPS. Murphy USA’s quarterly revenue was up 36.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 33.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 24th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 24th. 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.