Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Holdings Boosted by Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 26.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 8,758 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,836 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $4,317,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 28.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,546 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,906,000 after buying an additional 1,005 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 10.8% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 2,952 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,229,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 777.8% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 79 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 141.4% in the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 70 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Murphy USA by 6.5% during the second quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 2,022 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $949,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $415.00 to $435.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $495.33.

Murphy USA Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE MUSA opened at $541.34 on Wednesday. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52-week low of $350.55 and a 52-week high of $561.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $503.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $492.99. The stock has a market cap of $10.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.33 and a beta of 0.78.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.64 by $0.56. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.48% and a return on equity of 62.73%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $7.69 earnings per share. Murphy USA’s revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 23.59 EPS for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.92%.

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.