Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA Shares Bought by Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC

Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 23.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 146,119 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,513 shares during the period. Murphy USA comprises approximately 4.3% of Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $71,986,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the 1st quarter worth $44,457,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Murphy USA by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 12,897 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $6,371,000 after purchasing an additional 559 shares during the period. SummitTX Capital L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the 1st quarter valued at $1,955,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Murphy USA in the 1st quarter worth about $4,073,000. Finally, Castleark Management LLC purchased a new position in Murphy USA in the 1st quarter worth about $5,320,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Stock Down 1.5%

NYSE:MUSA opened at $600.98 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $568.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $502.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.77, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1-year low of $345.23 and a 1-year high of $636.04.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.37 by $1.91. The company had revenue of $4.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.70 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 91.05% and a net margin of 2.81%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.63 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is 8.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy USA

In other Murphy USA news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.44, for a total value of $555,912.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 3,083 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,632,263.52. This represents a 25.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Scott G. Woodward sold 158 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.50, for a total transaction of $94,879.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $285,838. The trade was a 24.92% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 46,225 shares of company stock valued at $27,363,392 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on MUSA shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $550.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $510.00 to $517.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $585.11.

About Murphy USA

Murphy USA is a leading downstream marketer of gasoline, diesel and convenience store products in the United States. Headquartered in El Dorado, Arkansas, the company was originally established as part of Murphy Oil Corporation and was spun off as an independent public entity in 2013. Since its separation, Murphy USA has focused on retail fueling services and convenience offerings designed to deliver value and convenience to consumers.

The company’s primary operations center on two retail formats.