Wellington Management Group LLP Trims Stock Position in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Wellington Management Group LLP lessened its stake in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 25.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 76,187 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 25,967 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 0.41% of Murphy USA worth $41,055,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Murphy USA by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,625 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $876,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Kenora Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 3.3% during the first quarter. Kenora Financial LLC now owns 654 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $323,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 3.0% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 864 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 1.9% in the third quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,470 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $571,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank lifted its stake in Murphy USA by 106.7% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on MUSA shares. Capital One Financial initiated coverage on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $710.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Murphy USA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $380.00 to $550.00 in a report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Murphy USA from $655.00 to $633.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $606.89.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Eric J. Bartko sold 100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $523.60, for a total value of $52,360.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $131,947.20. This represents a 28.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Rosemary Turner sold 966 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director directly owned 449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,774.12. This represents a 68.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 9.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Murphy USA Price Performance

NYSE MUSA opened at $511.16 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.57, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $571.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $528.16. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1 year low of $349.83 and a 1 year high of $636.04.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty retailer reported $11.27 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.95 by $1.32. The company had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.03 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 96.01% and a net margin of 2.87%.The firm’s revenue was up 36.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $7.36 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 34.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 24th were given a $0.65 dividend. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 24th. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is currently 7.92%.

Murphy USA 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.