Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 19.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,842 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 1,772 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $4,411,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Murphy USA by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,001 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $407,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Murphy USA by 15.2% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,841 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,376,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Murphy USA by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,870 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,168,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its position in Murphy USA by 5,480.5% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 4,576 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,861,000 after purchasing an additional 4,494 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. increased its position in Murphy USA by 273.4% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 8,539 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,473,000 after purchasing an additional 6,252 shares during the period. 80.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MUSA. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $405.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $480.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $350.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $474.00.

Insider Transactions at Murphy USA

In related news, COO Malynda K. West sold 1,859 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $386.22, for a total value of $717,982.98. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 117,389 shares in the company, valued at $45,337,979.58. The trade was a 1.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy purchased 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $367.01 per share, for a total transaction of $1,835,050.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 389,172 shares in the company, valued at $142,830,015.72. This represents a 1.30% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 10.12% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

Shares of MUSA stock opened at $396.97 on Wednesday. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12 month low of $345.23 and a 12 month high of $561.08. The stock has a market cap of $7.66 billion, a PE ratio of 16.44 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.20. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $383.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $416.24.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.82 by $0.54. The company had revenue of $5.01 billion for 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%. Murphy USA’s revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $6.92 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

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

Murphy USA Company 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.