Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Lowers Position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lowered its stake in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 32.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,236 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 1,990 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $2,088,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 15.8% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 10,453 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,382,000 after purchasing an additional 1,425 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its holdings in Murphy USA by 62.7% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,455 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,902,000 after buying an additional 1,717 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in Murphy USA by 31.1% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 48,227 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $20,217,000 after buying an additional 11,428 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in Murphy USA by 10.3% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 13,461 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $5,646,000 after buying an additional 1,254 shares during the period. Finally, MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in Murphy USA during the first quarter worth approximately $424,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Murphy USA Price Performance

MUSA opened at $524.30 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.63 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50-day moving average of $497.45 and a 200-day moving average of $484.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.80. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1-year low of $350.55 and a 1-year high of $552.30.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.64 by $0.56. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 62.73% and a net margin of 2.48%. The business’s revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $7.69 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 23.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.37%. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is 7.92%.

Insider Activity at Murphy USA

In other Murphy USA news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total value of $1,023,080.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. This trade represents a 11.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 9.73% of the company’s stock.

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.