Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA Stock: Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stake

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 81.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,800 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 8,078 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $907,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Murphy USA by 1.2% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,625 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $876,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 826 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $416,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 191 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Murphy USA by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 802 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Applied Capital LLC FL raised its position in shares of Murphy USA by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Applied Capital LLC FL now owns 1,926 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $971,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MUSA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $633.00 to $626.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Murphy USA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $612.00 to $621.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. 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 report on Monday, July 20th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $606.33.

Murphy USA Trading Up 1.9%

NYSE:MUSA traded up $10.09 on Friday, reaching $544.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 226,220 shares, compared to its average volume of 297,784. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1-year low of $353.32 and a 1-year high of $636.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $9.86 billion, a PE ratio of 15.27, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.31. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $522.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $519.09.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The specialty retailer reported $9.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.37 by $1.22. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 92.81% and a net margin of 2.85%. The company had revenue of $6.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $7.25 earnings per share. Murphy USA’s revenue was up 34.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 35.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 4th. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.07%.

Insider Activity at Murphy USA

In other Murphy USA news, Director Rosemary Turner sold 966 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $571.88, for a total transaction of $552,436.08. Following the sale, the director directly owned 449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,774.12. This trade represents a 68.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Donald Smith, Jr. sold 1,460 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $515.65, for a total transaction of $752,849.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,945,702.55. The trade was a 6.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,526 shares of company stock valued at $1,869,005. Corporate insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Profile

Murphy USA Inc. operates retail gasoline stations and convenience stores across the United States under the Murphy USA and Murphy Express brands. Its stores sell branded and unbranded gasoline and diesel fuel, along with convenience items such as beverages, snacks, tobacco products and other everyday merchandise. The company’s locations are concentrated in the South, Midwest and other parts of the country, including stores associated with its QuickChek brand in the Northeast. Murphy USA became an independent publicly traded company in 2013 after being spun off from Murphy Oil Corporation.