Flavin Financial Services Inc. Invests $1.08 Million in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Flavin Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 2,007 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,082,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MUSA. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy USA during the second quarter worth $915,734,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Murphy USA by 149.9% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 507,418 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $204,753,000 after purchasing an additional 304,354 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in Murphy USA by 676.7% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 170,215 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $69,243,000 after purchasing an additional 148,301 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Murphy USA during the 2nd quarter worth $78,372,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Murphy USA during the 4th quarter worth about $50,726,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. KeyCorp increased their price target on Murphy USA from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $619.00 price objective on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $380.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Zacks Research cut shares of Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $520.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.89.

Insider Transactions at Murphy USA

In other news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.44, for a total transaction of $555,912.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 3,083 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,632,263.52. The trade was a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Diane N. Landen sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $547.25, for a total value of $1,641,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 53,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,464,487.25. The trade was a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,016 shares of company stock worth $2,750,098. Corporate insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Stock Down 0.4%

MUSA stock opened at $567.65 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77. Murphy USA Inc. has a twelve month low of $349.83 and a twelve month high of $636.04. The company’s 50 day moving average is $576.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $519.89. The stock has a market cap of $10.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.29, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.28.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty retailer reported $11.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.95 by $1.32. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.87% and a return on equity of 96.01%. The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $7.36 EPS. Murphy USA’s revenue for the quarter was up 36.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 33.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 24th. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is 7.80%.

Murphy USA Profile

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.