Diversified Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA – Get Rating) by 97.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,884 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 930 shares during the quarter. Diversified Trust Co’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $527,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
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Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MUSA. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Murphy USA during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,635,000. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Murphy USA by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,650,681 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $728,697,000 after acquiring an additional 80,089 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Murphy USA by 251.2% during the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 89,379 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $24,571,000 after acquiring an additional 63,932 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Murphy USA by 20.6% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 332,877 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $77,518,000 after acquiring an additional 56,905 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of Murphy USA by 115.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 89,131 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $24,502,000 after acquiring an additional 47,731 shares in the last quarter. 85.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on Murphy USA in a research report on Wednesday, December 14th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $360.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Murphy USA in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Raymond James dropped their target price on Murphy USA from $335.00 to $305.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Murphy USA from $350.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock 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 given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.60.
Murphy USA Price Performance
Shares of MUSA opened at $245.98 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.75 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.85. Murphy USA Inc. has a one year low of $189.30 and a one year high of $323.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $260.03 and its 200-day moving average is $276.61.
Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 2.87% and a return on equity of 90.90%. The business had revenue of $5.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.23 earnings per share. Murphy USA’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 18.4 EPS for the current year.
Murphy USA Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 17th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. 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 in 1996 and is headquartered in El Dorado, AR.
Further Reading
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