Wellington Management Group LLP Purchases New Position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 7,784 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $3,836,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MUSA. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 40.4% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Key Financial Inc lifted its holdings in Murphy USA by 942.9% during the third quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 146 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Murphy USA by 82.1% during the 2nd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 173 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Murphy USA by 25.6% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 201 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Murphy USA by 135.4% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 186 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Murphy USA Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MUSA opened at $539.71 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $513.31 and its 200 day moving average is $499.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.41. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1 year low of $350.55 and a 1 year high of $561.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.27 and a beta of 0.78.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.64 by $0.56. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.54 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.48% and a return on equity of 62.73%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $7.69 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Murphy USA Inc. will post 23.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MUSA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $415.00 to $435.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $495.33.

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.