Commerce Bank Makes New Investment in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Commerce Bank bought a new position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,650 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $889,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MUSA. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the 2nd quarter valued at about $915,734,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Murphy USA by 149.9% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 507,418 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $204,753,000 after purchasing an additional 304,354 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Murphy USA by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 506,214 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $204,267,000 after purchasing an additional 7,973 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Murphy USA by 45.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 318,473 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $128,511,000 after purchasing an additional 99,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Murphy USA by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 300,758 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $121,365,000 after purchasing an additional 1,930 shares during the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MUSA shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 27th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $550.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Bank of America upped their target price on Murphy USA from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Capital One Financial initiated coverage on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Monday, June 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $710.00 price target on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Murphy USA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.89.

Murphy USA Stock Down 2.3%

MUSA stock opened at $532.05 on Thursday. Murphy USA Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $349.83 and a fifty-two week high of $636.04. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $574.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $522.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $9.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.28.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty retailer reported $11.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.95 by $1.32. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 96.01% and a net margin of 2.87%.The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $7.36 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 36.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 33.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 24th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 24th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy USA

In other Murphy USA news, Director Rosemary Turner sold 966 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $571.88, for a total transaction of $552,436.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,774.12. This trade represents a 68.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Diane N. Landen sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $547.25, for a total transaction of $1,641,750.00. Following the sale, the director owned 53,841 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,464,487.25. This trade represents a 5.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

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.