1,371 Shares in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA Acquired by Simplicity Wealth LLC

Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,371 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $739,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MUSA. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 106.7% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 423.1% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. WPG Advisers LLC boosted its position in Murphy USA by 148.5% during the fourth quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 82 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Murphy USA during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Murphy USA by 82.5% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 73 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on MUSA. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $550.00 to $625.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $655.00 to $633.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Capital One Financial initiated coverage on shares of Murphy USA in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $710.00 price objective for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.89.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.44, for a total value of $555,912.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 3,083 shares in the company, valued at $1,632,263.52. This trade represents a 25.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Diane N. Landen sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $547.25, for a total transaction of $1,641,750.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 53,841 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,464,487.25. This represents a 5.28% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of MUSA stock opened at $583.51 on Tuesday. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1-year low of $349.83 and a 1-year high of $636.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $579.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $515.75. 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 company has a market cap of $10.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 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, beating 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 company had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $7.36 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 36.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 33.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 24th. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is presently 7.80%.

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.