Ieq Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 7,320 Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 7,320 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $3,945,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MUSA. Huntington National Bank raised its position in shares of Murphy USA by 106.7% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Murphy USA by 423.1% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Keating Financial Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 82.5% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 73 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy USA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE MUSA opened at $567.61 on Tuesday. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12-month low of $349.83 and a 12-month high of $636.04. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $576.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $520.83. The company has a market cap of $10.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty retailer reported $11.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.95 by $1.32. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.87% and a return on equity of 96.01%. The business had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $7.36 earnings per share. Murphy USA’s revenue for the quarter was up 36.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 33.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 24th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 24th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.44, for a total value of $555,912.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 3,083 shares in the company, valued at $1,632,263.52. This trade represents a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Diane N. Landen sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $547.25, for a total value of $1,641,750.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 53,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,464,487.25. This represents a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 5,016 shares of company stock worth $2,750,098 over the last three months. 9.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research lowered Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $550.00 to $625.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $380.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $520.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.89.

About Murphy USA

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.