800 Shares in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA Purchased by Washington Capital Management Inc.

Washington Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 800 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $325,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mustard Seed Financial LLC grew its position in Murphy USA by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mustard Seed Financial LLC now owns 1,103 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $449,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. WD Rutherford LLC bought a new position in Murphy USA in the 2nd quarter worth about $49,000. Fortune Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Murphy USA by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Fortune Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,821 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $741,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Murphy USA by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $521,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BTC Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Murphy USA by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,081 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on MUSA shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $350.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $480.00 target price on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $520.00 to $440.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $483.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Malynda K. West sold 1,859 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $386.22, for a total transaction of $717,982.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 117,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,337,979.58. This trade represents a 1.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy bought 5,000 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $367.01 per share, with a total value of $1,835,050.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 389,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,830,015.72. This represents a 1.30% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 10.12% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Trading Up 1.4%

Murphy USA stock opened at $391.77 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $388.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $428.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.20, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.56 billion, a PE ratio of 16.22 and a beta of 0.44. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12-month low of $345.23 and a 12-month high of $561.08.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.82 by $0.54. The firm had revenue of $5.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.17 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.52% and a return on equity of 64.63%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.92 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Investors of record on Monday, August 25th were issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 25th. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Murphy USA Profile

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.