Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA Shares Sold by Inspire Investing LLC

Inspire Investing LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 10.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,320 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 480 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $1,757,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MUSA. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 63.5% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 157 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 14.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,179 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Murphy USA by 21.1% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,210 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $568,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional bought a new position in shares of Murphy USA during the first quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in shares of Murphy USA by 18.7% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 203 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Malynda K. West sold 1,859 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $45,337,979.58. This trade represents a 1.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy acquired 5,000 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $367.01 per share, with a total value of $1,835,050.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 389,172 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,830,015.72. This represents a 1.30% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 9.04% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

Shares of MUSA opened at $377.78 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $383.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $424.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.29 billion, a PE ratio of 15.64 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.20. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52-week low of $345.23 and a 52-week high of $561.08.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.82 by $0.54. The firm had revenue of $5.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the firm posted $6.92 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented 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 target for the company. in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $520.00 to $440.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $480.00 price target on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $483.17.

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.