Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $137.69 Million Stock Position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its position in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 25.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 293,279 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 100,980 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 1.42% of Murphy USA worth $137,691,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Murphy USA by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 97,011 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $45,543,000 after buying an additional 12,336 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 10.9% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,621 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,169,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 65.0% in the second quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 1,556 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $730,000 after purchasing an additional 613 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 82.1% in the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 173 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 6.4% in the second quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,728 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $811,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on MUSA. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com downgraded Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Raymond James increased their price objective on Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $415.00 to $435.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Murphy USA currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $464.57.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy USA

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

Murphy USA Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MUSA opened at $496.47 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $510.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $461.19. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1-year low of $338.80 and a 1-year high of $552.30. The firm has a market cap of $10.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.83 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 64.73% and a net margin of 2.50%. The business had revenue of $5.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $6.02 earnings per share. Murphy USA’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 24.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

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

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.