Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Shares Bought by Seven Eight Capital LP

Seven Eight Capital LP lifted its position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 22.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,112 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 573 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $1,461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 777.8% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 79 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 141.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 70 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 70.7% in the 4th quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN now owns 128 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in Murphy USA by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 188 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in Murphy USA during the first quarter worth approximately $69,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Price Performance

Shares of MUSA opened at $493.00 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. The company has a market capitalization of $10.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.69 and a beta of 0.77. The business’s 50-day moving average is $509.74 and its 200-day moving average is $460.27. Murphy USA Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $338.36 and a fifty-two week high of $552.30.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty retailer reported $6.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.91 by $0.01. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 64.73%. The company had revenue of $5.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.02 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 24.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company 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 a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 26th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.37%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy USA

In other news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 16,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 16,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $514.54, for a total transaction of $8,621,117.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 396,384 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,955,423.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,209 shares of company stock worth $16,564,666 over the last 90 days. 9.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on MUSA. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James lifted their price target 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 shares of Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $415.00 to $435.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, 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 on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.