Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 103.5% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 26,441 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,450 shares during the quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $10,756,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GW&K Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. TCTC Holdings LLC lifted its position in Murphy USA by 116.7% in the first quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 65 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Murphy USA during the first quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy USA during the first quarter worth about $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MUSA shares. Zacks Research raised Murphy USA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $480.00 price objective on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $520.00 to $440.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, 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 note on Friday, August 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $483.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Murphy USA 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 directly owned 117,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,337,979.58. This represents a 1.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy purchased 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $367.01 per share, for a total transaction of $1,835,050.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 389,172 shares in the company, valued at $142,830,015.72. The trade was a 1.30% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 9.04% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of Murphy USA stock opened at $394.94 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $386.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $427.34. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12-month low of $345.23 and a 12-month high of $561.08. 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 stock has a market cap of $7.62 billion, a PE ratio of 16.35 and a beta of 0.42.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $5.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.17 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 64.63% and a net margin of 2.52%.The company’s revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.92 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

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

About Murphy USA

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.