Engineers Gate Manager LP Purchases 102,560 Shares of Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its holdings in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 21,322.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 103,041 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 102,560 shares during the quarter. Murphy USA makes up 0.7% of Engineers Gate Manager LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Engineers Gate Manager LP’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $55,526,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 1.2% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,625 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $876,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Kenora Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Murphy USA by 3.3% during the first quarter. Kenora Financial LLC now owns 654 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Murphy USA by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 864 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Murphy USA by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 802 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Murphy USA by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,470 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MUSA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Murphy USA from $520.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Murphy USA from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report 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 target for the company from $380.00 to $550.00 in a report on Monday, July 6th. 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 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 company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $606.89.

Murphy USA Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of MUSA opened at $516.51 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77. The business has a fifty day moving average of $570.47 and a 200 day moving average of $530.78. The company has a market cap of $9.54 billion, a PE ratio of 15.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.25. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52-week low of $349.83 and a 52-week high of $636.04.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its 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. The business had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.03 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.87% and a return on equity of 96.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 36.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $7.36 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 34.7 EPS for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 24th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 yield of 0.5%. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is 7.92%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Eric J. Bartko sold 100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $523.60, for a total value of $52,360.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $131,947.20. This represents a 28.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Rosemary Turner sold 966 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $571.88, for a total value of $552,436.08. Following the sale, the director directly owned 449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,774.12. This represents a 68.27% 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 company 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.