Stephens Inc. AR Sells 71 Shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Stephens Inc. AR decreased its stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 16,405 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 71 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR owned 0.08% of Murphy USA worth $8,086,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Murphy USA by 49,501.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 388,874 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $191,664,000 after acquiring an additional 388,090 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 0.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 245,220 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $102,797,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 0.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 204,363 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $95,940,000 after purchasing an additional 1,560 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 1.2% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 141,637 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $66,493,000 after purchasing an additional 1,635 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 1.2% in the first quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 127,160 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $53,305,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MUSA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $415.00 to $435.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $495.33.

Murphy USA Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MUSA opened at $484.85 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $497.43 and a 200 day moving average of $474.73. The stock has a market cap of $9.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.00 and a beta of 0.77. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12 month low of $350.55 and a 12 month high of $552.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.64 by $0.56. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.48% and a return on equity of 63.18%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $7.69 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 23.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is currently 7.43%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Murphy USA news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total value of $1,023,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,242,955.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 16,755 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $514.54, for a total value of $8,621,117.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 396,384 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,955,423.36. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total transaction of $1,023,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,209 shares of company stock valued at $16,564,666 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 9.04% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA 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.