Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA Shares Purchased by Bridges Investment Management Inc.

Bridges Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 15.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,646 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 606 shares during the quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $1,890,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 5.4% in the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 442,130 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $207,717,000 after purchasing an additional 22,733 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 94.0% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 371,667 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $174,613,000 after purchasing an additional 180,055 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 21.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 268,373 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $126,065,000 after purchasing an additional 46,677 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 61.5% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 252,575 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $118,662,000 after purchasing an additional 96,200 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 902.2% in the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 153,202 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $71,976,000 after purchasing an additional 137,915 shares during the period. 80.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert Madison Murphy acquired 5,000 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $367.01 per share, for a total transaction of $1,835,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 389,172 shares in the company, valued at $142,830,015.72. This represents a 1.30% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Malynda K. West sold 1,859 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $386.22, for a total value of $717,982.98. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 117,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,337,979.58. The trade was a 1.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 9.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the company. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $480.00 price objective on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Friday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $350.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Murphy USA in a research report on Wednesday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $405.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $477.33.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

NYSE MUSA opened at $378.94 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.31 billion, a PE ratio of 15.69 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $384.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $422.06. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1-year low of $345.23 and a 1-year high of $561.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.20, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.39.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.82 by $0.54. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 64.63% and a net margin of 2.52%.The business had revenue of $5.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.92 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Investors of record on Monday, August 25th were given a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 25th. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

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.