Bridges Investment Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 1,703 Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Bridges Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,703 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $799,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 1,091.4% during the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 14,464 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $6,063,000 after buying an additional 13,250 shares during the period. Viking Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Murphy USA during the first quarter valued at about $1,258,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 21.2% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 16,673 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $6,991,000 after buying an additional 2,911 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Murphy USA during the fourth quarter valued at about $8,949,000. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position 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 valued at $5,646,000 after buying an additional 1,254 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE MUSA opened at $496.47 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $510.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $461.19. The company has a market cap of $10.29 billion, a PE ratio of 20.83 and a beta of 0.77. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52-week low of $338.80 and a 52-week high of $552.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.84.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty retailer reported $6.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.02 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 24.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Monday, August 26th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 26th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.36%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is 7.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MUSA. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. 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 report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. 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. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $464.57.

Insider Activity at Murphy USA

In related news, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 13,454 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 382,930 shares in the company, valued at $196,971,533.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 shares were 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 directly owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,242,955.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 13,454 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 382,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,971,533.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,209 shares of company stock worth $16,564,666 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 9.04% of the company’s stock.

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.