Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp trimmed its stake in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA – Get Rating) by 44.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,568 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 1,253 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $431,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
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Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MUSA. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,670,297 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $533,953,000 after acquiring an additional 35,610 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 557,500 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $129,825,000 after purchasing an additional 34,100 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Murphy USA by 20.6% in the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 332,877 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $77,518,000 after acquiring an additional 56,905 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Murphy USA by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 238,500 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $55,539,000 after acquiring an additional 22,704 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 0.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 210,538 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $42,100,000 after buying an additional 586 shares in the last quarter. 85.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research firms have commented on MUSA. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $315.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on Murphy USA in a report on Wednesday, December 14th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $360.00 price target for the company. Raymond James cut their price target on Murphy USA from $335.00 to $305.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Murphy USA from $350.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.60.
Murphy USA Stock Performance
Shares of NYSE MUSA opened at $274.02 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $5.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.75 and a beta of 0.83. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $271.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $283.02. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.30 and a 52 week high of $323.00.
Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 1st. The specialty retailer reported $5.21 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.16 by ($0.95). Murphy USA had a return on equity of 90.90% and a net margin of 2.87%. The firm had revenue of $5.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.23 EPS. Murphy USA’s revenue was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 18.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Murphy USA Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 17th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.27%.
About Murphy USA
Murphy USA, Inc engages in marketing motor fuel products and convenience merchandise through retail stores, namely Murphy USA and Murphy Express. It collaborates with Walmart to offer customers discounted and free items based on purchases of qualifying fuel and merchandise. The company was founded on March 1, 2013 and is headquartered in El Dorado, AR.
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