Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Shares Bought by nVerses Capital LLC

nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 18.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,300 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $641,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 784 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 643 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 580 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 860 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Affirmative Financial Network boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 689 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total value of $1,023,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total transaction of $1,023,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,242,955.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 13,454 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $514.38, for a total transaction of $6,920,468.52. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 382,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,971,533.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 32,209 shares of company stock valued at $16,564,666. 9.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MUSA has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $415.00 to $435.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Murphy USA currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $464.57.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

Shares of MUSA traded down $1.00 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $482.12. The stock had a trading volume of 10,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 200,313. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $504.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $470.45. Murphy USA Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $350.55 and a fifty-two week high of $552.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.22 and a beta of 0.77.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty retailer reported $6.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.91 by $0.01. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 64.73%. The firm had revenue of $5.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.02 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 24.14 EPS for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Monday, August 26th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 26th. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is presently 7.55%.

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.