Russell Investments Group Ltd. Raises Position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 122.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,560 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,001 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $7,306,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MUSA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,864,405 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $935,465,000 after purchasing an additional 54,658 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Murphy USA by 69.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 428,379 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $211,135,000 after buying an additional 176,308 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 421,760 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $211,667,000 after acquiring an additional 33,489 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in Murphy USA by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 284,564 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $142,780,000 after acquiring an additional 16,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Murphy USA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $112,741,000. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy USA

In other Murphy USA news, Director Rosemary Turner sold 797 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.10, for a total transaction of $395,391.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Renee M. Bacon sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.58, for a total value of $939,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 5,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,783,200.66. The trade was a 25.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,594 shares of company stock worth $1,695,043 over the last 90 days. 9.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $555.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Stephens upgraded Murphy USA to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. KeyCorp began coverage on Murphy USA in a research report on Friday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $550.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Melius started coverage on Murphy USA in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Murphy USA currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $539.00.

Murphy USA Trading Up 6.7 %

Shares of Murphy USA stock opened at $514.54 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18. The firm has a market cap of $10.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.26 and a beta of 0.73. Murphy USA Inc. has a twelve month low of $382.04 and a twelve month high of $561.08. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $468.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $492.49.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The specialty retailer reported $6.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.46 by $0.50. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 61.60% and a net margin of 2.48%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a dividend of $0.49 per share. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.10%.

Murphy USA Company 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.