Hancock Whitney Corp Raises Holdings in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Hancock Whitney Corp increased its holdings in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 4.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,640 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $2,648,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MUSA. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Murphy USA by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 784 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in Murphy USA by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 188 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 3.8% during the first quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 844 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $354,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 5.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 643 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $270,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 5.6% during the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 580 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $272,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on MUSA shares. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of 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 report on Tuesday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, 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 research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $464.57.

Murphy USA Stock Up 0.8 %

MUSA stock opened at $496.47 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $510.17 and its 200 day moving average is $461.19. The firm 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 one year low of $338.80 and a one year 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty retailer reported $6.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.91 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 64.73% and a net margin of 2.50%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $6.02 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 24.43 EPS for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Murphy USA news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Murphy USA news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of Murphy USA 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 sale, the director now owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 13,454 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 382,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,971,533.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,209 shares of company stock worth $16,564,666 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 9.04% of the company’s stock.

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.