Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Cuts Stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 16,905 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 809 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $8,332,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Murphy USA by 90.4% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 20,685 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $10,195,000 after buying an additional 9,822 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Murphy USA by 9.9% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 476 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in Murphy USA in the third quarter valued at approximately $433,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Murphy USA by 14.6% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,294 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,609,000 after buying an additional 673 shares during the period. Finally, Bancreek Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Murphy USA by 32.5% in the third quarter. Bancreek Capital Management LP now owns 16,617 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $8,190,000 after buying an additional 4,077 shares during the period. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. The trade was a 11.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 9.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Murphy USA Stock Down 1.5 %

MUSA stock opened at $521.00 on Tuesday. Murphy USA Inc. has a twelve month low of $350.55 and a twelve month high of $552.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19. The company has a market capitalization of $10.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.49 and a beta of 0.75. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $497.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $482.83.

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

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

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

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.