Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Shares Sold by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. cut its holdings in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 26.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 141,855 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 51,777 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.70% of Murphy USA worth $69,916,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in shares of Murphy USA by 141.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 70 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 40.4% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Murphy USA by 777.8% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 79 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Key Financial Inc grew its position in Murphy USA by 942.9% during the third quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 146 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the period. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Murphy USA by 82.1% in the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 173 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. 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 research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $415.00 to $435.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 26th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $495.33.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

NYSE MUSA opened at $553.39 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19. Murphy USA Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $350.55 and a fifty-two week high of $561.08. The business has a fifty day moving average of $499.27 and a 200-day moving average of $489.54. The stock has a market cap of $11.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.83 and a beta of 0.75.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.64 by $0.56. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.54 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.48% and a return on equity of 62.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.69 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Murphy USA Inc. will post 23.59 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 Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.92%.

About Murphy USA

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.