Commerce Bank Cuts Position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Commerce Bank decreased its position in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 4.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,678 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 111 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $1,320,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MUSA. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Murphy USA by 49,501.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 388,874 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $191,664,000 after acquiring an additional 388,090 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA during the third quarter worth $53,387,000. Argent Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 1,359.6% during the second quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 93,326 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $43,813,000 after purchasing an additional 86,932 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 232.2% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 35,378 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $17,437,000 after purchasing an additional 24,727 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Murphy USA by 14.6% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 97,011 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $45,543,000 after buying an additional 12,336 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total transaction of $1,023,080.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. This represents a 11.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 9.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Murphy USA Price Performance

Shares of MUSA stock opened at $545.34 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $497.63 and its 200 day moving average is $487.30. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1-year low of $350.55 and a 1-year high of $552.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The company has a market cap of $11.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.50 and a beta of 0.75.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.64 by $0.56. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.54 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 62.73% and a net margin of 2.48%. The firm’s revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $7.69 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Murphy USA Inc. will post 23.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on MUSA. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $415.00 to $435.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com downgraded Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $495.33.

Murphy USA 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.