GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Acquires 78 Shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 82.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 173 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $81,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in Murphy USA by 141.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 70 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 777.8% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 79 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN boosted its position in shares of Murphy USA by 70.7% during the fourth quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN now owns 128 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Murphy USA during the first quarter worth $69,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in Murphy USA by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 188 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Murphy USA

In related news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total transaction of $1,023,080.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 16,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 13,454 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $514.38, for a total value of $6,920,468.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 382,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,971,533.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 32,209 shares of company stock worth $16,564,666. 9.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MUSA has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Murphy USA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $469.50.

Murphy USA Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE MUSA opened at $533.25 on Friday. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1-year low of $331.46 and a 1-year high of $542.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The business’s 50 day moving average is $505.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $457.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.38 and a beta of 0.77.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty retailer reported $6.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.91 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.69 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 64.73% and a net margin of 2.50%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.02 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 24.43 EPS for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 26th were paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 26th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.55%.

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.