Moran Wealth Management LLC Acquires 2,572 Shares of Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Moran Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 19.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,802 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,572 shares during the period. Moran Wealth Management LLC owned about 0.09% of Murphy USA worth $7,806,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Murphy USA by 149.9% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 507,418 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $204,753,000 after purchasing an additional 304,354 shares in the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Murphy USA by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 506,214 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $204,267,000 after purchasing an additional 7,973 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 318.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 424,818 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $164,940,000 after purchasing an additional 323,331 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 45.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 318,473 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $128,511,000 after buying an additional 99,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 300,758 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $121,365,000 after buying an additional 1,930 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on MUSA. Capital One Financial started coverage on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Monday, June 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $710.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Murphy USA in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $539.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $550.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $450.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $573.88.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

Shares of MUSA stock opened at $561.78 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $554.27 and a 200 day moving average of $478.47. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1 year low of $345.23 and a 1 year high of $636.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.30.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $4.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.70 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 91.05% and a net margin of 2.81%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.63 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were given a $0.64 dividend. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is currently 8.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 3,083 shares in the company, valued at $1,632,263.52. This represents a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through 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 firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $596.96, for a total transaction of $24,773,840.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 342,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,286,875.52. This trade represents a 10.82% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 46,225 shares of company stock worth $27,363,392 in the last quarter. 9.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.