Verus Capital Partners LLC Purchases 48 Shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Verus Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 5.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 861 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 48 shares during the quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $424,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Arcus Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the third quarter valued at approximately $256,000. Meridian Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Murphy USA by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Meridian Management Co. now owns 2,452 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,209,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Murphy USA by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,345 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,156,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 1,669 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $823,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 6.1% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 35,240 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $17,369,000 after purchasing an additional 2,028 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy USA

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 sale, the director now owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,242,955.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 9.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MUSA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $415.00 to $435.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com cut Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 26th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $495.33.

Murphy USA Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE MUSA opened at $530.02 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $10.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.87 and a beta of 0.75. Murphy USA Inc. has a twelve month low of $350.55 and a twelve month high of $552.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19. The business’s fifty day moving average is $496.02 and its 200 day moving average is $480.46.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.64 by $0.56. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 62.73% and a net margin of 2.48%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $7.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 23.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.36%. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is presently 7.92%.

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.