Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA Shares Sold by Flavin Financial Services Inc.

Flavin Financial Services Inc. lessened its stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 19.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,232 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 299 shares during the quarter. Flavin Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $501,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MUSA. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 63.5% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 157 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,179 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $554,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 21.1% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,210 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $568,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,538 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,663,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the 1st quarter valued at $236,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

Murphy USA stock opened at $388.42 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.08 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $384.77 and a 200-day moving average of $421.04. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52 week low of $345.23 and a 52 week high of $561.08.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $6.82 by $0.54. The company had revenue of $5.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.17 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.52% and a return on equity of 64.63%. The company’s revenue was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.92 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Investors of record on Monday, August 25th were issued a $0.53 dividend. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 25th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

About Murphy USA

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.