Leeward Investments LLC MA Cuts Stake in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Leeward Investments LLC MA reduced its position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,526 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 1,286 shares during the quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $13,232,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 4.9% during the first quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 489 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $230,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Vista Finance LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 4.0% during the second quarter. Vista Finance LLC now owns 646 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $263,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 0.7% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,473 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,101,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Fortune Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 1.6% during the second quarter. Fortune Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,821 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $741,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Applied Capital LLC FL grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 5.9% during the first quarter. Applied Capital LLC FL now owns 557 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $262,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Murphy USA

In other news, Director Robert Madison Murphy acquired 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $367.01 per share, for a total transaction of $1,835,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 389,172 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,830,015.72. The trade was a 1.30% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Malynda K. West sold 1,859 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $386.22, for a total transaction of $717,982.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 117,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,337,979.58. This trade represents a 1.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 9.04% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Murphy USA stock opened at $379.96 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $383.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $417.83. The company has a market cap of $7.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.73 and a beta of 0.42. Murphy USA Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $345.23 and a fifty-two week high of $561.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.20, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.17 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.52% and a return on equity of 64.63%. 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 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 25th were given a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 25th. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.