River Road Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

River Road Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 24.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 491,641 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 95,259 shares during the period. Murphy USA makes up 2.5% of River Road Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. River Road Asset Management LLC owned about 2.55% of Murphy USA worth $200,000,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 2,594.2% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 142,038 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $66,731,000 after purchasing an additional 136,766 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Murphy USA by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 34,898 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $14,197,000 after purchasing an additional 907 shares in the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI boosted its position in shares of Murphy USA by 154.5% in the 2nd quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 6,305 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,565,000 after purchasing an additional 3,828 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 340.7% in the 2nd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 7,778 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,164,000 after buying an additional 6,013 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Services Automobile Association bought a new position in Murphy USA during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $536,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MUSA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Zacks Research raised Murphy USA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed 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. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $480.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $474.00.

Murphy USA Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:MUSA opened at $385.07 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $7.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.24 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.40. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1 year low of $345.23 and a 1 year high of $558.34. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $377.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $396.06.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.60 by $0.65. The company had revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.11 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 69.87% and a net margin of 2.43%.Murphy USA’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $7.20 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 10th. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy USA

In related news, CEO R Andrew Clyde sold 24,733 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.33, for a total transaction of $9,431,434.89. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 131,024 shares in the company, valued at $49,963,381.92. This represents a 15.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 10.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.