Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA Shares Sold by Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC

Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 45.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,400 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 6,926 shares during the period. Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $3,390,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 318.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 424,818 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $164,940,000 after buying an additional 323,331 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 0.4% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 298,828 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $116,029,000 after buying an additional 1,097 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 66.0% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 203,064 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $78,842,000 after buying an additional 80,702 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 3.9% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 188,664 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $73,251,000 after buying an additional 7,145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 676.7% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 170,215 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $69,243,000 after buying an additional 148,301 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MUSA. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Murphy USA from $450.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Murphy USA from $510.00 to $517.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. KeyCorp raised their target price on Murphy USA from $560.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America raised Murphy USA from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $350.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.71.

Murphy USA Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:MUSA opened at $577.68 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1-year low of $345.23 and a 1-year high of $609.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.36. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $484.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $427.89.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.37 by $1.91. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 91.05% and a net margin of 2.81%.The business had revenue of $4.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.63 EPS. Murphy USA’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 31.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th will be paid a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.71%.

Insider Transactions at Murphy USA

In related news, SVP Keith A. Emery sold 899 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $382.53, for a total value of $343,894.47. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 2,844 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $388.61, for a total value of $1,105,206.84. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 3,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,198,084.63. This represents a 47.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 48,610 shares of company stock worth $27,574,259. 9.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Murphy USA Company Profile

Murphy USA is a leading downstream marketer of gasoline, diesel and convenience store products in the United States. Headquartered in El Dorado, Arkansas, the company was originally established as part of Murphy Oil Corporation and was spun off as an independent public entity in 2013. Since its separation, Murphy USA has focused on retail fueling services and convenience offerings designed to deliver value and convenience to consumers.

The company’s primary operations center on two retail formats.