Wedmont Private Capital Has $353,000 Stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 14.5% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 855 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $353,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUSA. UBS Group AG grew its stake in Murphy USA by 40.6% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 31,087 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $10,623,000 after acquiring an additional 8,972 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 51.9% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 2,890 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $998,000 after purchasing an additional 988 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the third quarter valued at about $503,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 27.8% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 73,205 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $25,016,000 after purchasing an additional 15,914 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the third quarter valued at about $270,000. 80.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

MUSA opened at $479.58 on Friday. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52-week low of $282.49 and a 52-week high of $488.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.94 billion, a PE ratio of 20.13 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.28, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.87. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $436.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $404.21.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The specialty retailer reported $3.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.97). The business had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.89 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 64.45% and a net margin of 2.43%. Murphy USA’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.80 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 24.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.37%. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.39%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Rosemary Turner sold 205 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total value of $82,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Rosemary Turner sold 205 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total transaction of $82,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO R Andrew Clyde sold 10,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $440.32, for a total value of $4,575,805.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 199,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,871,580.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,451 shares of company stock worth $5,032,498. Insiders own 9.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Murphy USA from $440.00 to $460.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. StockNews.com lowered Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price target on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Murphy USA presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $408.60.

Murphy USA Company Profile

Murphy USA Inc engages in marketing of retail motor fuel products and convenience merchandise. The company operates retail stores under the Murphy USA, Murphy Express, and QuickChek brands, as well as operates non-fuel convenience stores. It operates retail gasoline stores principally in the Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest United States.