EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 135.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 186 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $94,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its position in shares of Murphy USA by 1,091.4% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 14,464 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $6,063,000 after buying an additional 13,250 shares in the last quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,258,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 21.2% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 16,673 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $6,991,000 after acquiring an additional 2,911 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA during the 4th quarter valued at about $8,949,000. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 10.3% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 13,461 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $5,646,000 after purchasing an additional 1,254 shares in the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Murphy USA Price Performance

Shares of Murphy USA stock opened at $497.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.52. Murphy USA Inc. has a one year low of $339.96 and a one year high of $552.30. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $510.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $463.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.87 and a beta of 0.77.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty retailer reported $6.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.91 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.69 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 64.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $6.02 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 24.14 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 issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 26th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Murphy USA news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the director now owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the director now owns 16,114 shares in the company, valued at $8,242,955.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 13,454 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $514.38, for a total transaction of $6,920,468.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 382,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,971,533.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,209 shares of company stock valued at $16,564,666 over the last ninety days. 9.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped 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 report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Raymond James increased their target price on Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com cut Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $415.00 to $435.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Murphy USA presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $464.57.

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.