6,336 Shares in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA Bought by Landscape Capital Management L.L.C.

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 6,336 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $3,414,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the second quarter worth about $915,734,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 149.9% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 507,418 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $204,753,000 after acquiring an additional 304,354 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Murphy USA by 676.7% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 170,215 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $69,243,000 after acquiring an additional 148,301 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Murphy USA during the 2nd quarter valued at about $78,372,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Murphy USA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,726,000. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Murphy USA from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Weiss Ratings raised Murphy USA from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $655.00 to $633.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Murphy USA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $380.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $550.00 to $625.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.89.

Murphy USA Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:MUSA opened at $567.65 on Friday. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1 year low of $349.83 and a 1 year high of $636.04. The company has a market cap of $10.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $576.44 and its 200 day moving average is $519.25.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty retailer reported $11.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.95 by $1.32. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 96.01% and a net margin of 2.87%.The business had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $7.36 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 36.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 33.84 EPS for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 24th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.80%.

Insider Activity at Murphy USA

In related news, Director Rosemary Turner sold 966 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $571.88, for a total value of $552,436.08. Following the sale, the director owned 449 shares in the company, valued at $256,774.12. The trade was a 68.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.44, for a total transaction of $555,912.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 3,083 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,632,263.52. The trade was a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 5,016 shares of company stock worth $2,750,098 over the last quarter. 9.02% of the stock is 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.