90,000 Shares in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA Purchased by Encompass Capital Advisors LLC

Encompass Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 90,000 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $44,457,000. Murphy USA accounts for 1.3% of Encompass Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 12,897 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $6,371,000 after buying an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. bought a new position in shares of Murphy USA during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,955,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy USA in the 1st quarter valued at $4,073,000. Castleark Management LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy USA in the 1st quarter valued at $5,320,000. Finally, RIHO Partners LLC grew its position in Murphy USA by 5.6% in the first quarter. RIHO Partners LLC now owns 54,746 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $27,043,000 after acquiring an additional 2,919 shares during the period. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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 report on Monday, July 6th. Capital One Financial initiated coverage on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $710.00 target price for the company. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $550.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $520.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $585.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 Robert Madison Murphy sold 41,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $596.96, for a total value of $24,773,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 342,212 shares in the company, valued at $204,286,875.52. The trade was a 10.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 46,225 shares of company stock valued at $27,363,392 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE MUSA opened at $609.16 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $567.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $500.86. The company has a market cap of $11.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12-month low of $345.23 and a 12-month high of $636.04.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.37 by $1.91. The firm had revenue of $4.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.70 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.81% and a return on equity of 91.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.63 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a dividend of $0.64 per share. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is currently 8.85%.

Murphy USA Company 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.