Whittier Trust Co. Raises Stock Holdings in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Whittier Trust Co. lifted its stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 60.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,667 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 5,128 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $5,405,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vista Finance LLC increased its holdings in Murphy USA by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vista Finance LLC now owns 646 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Murphy USA by 4.8% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 585 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Murphy USA by 2.7% in the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,282 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $498,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 0.3% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,902 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $5,249,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Murphy USA by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 846 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Murphy USA Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of MUSA opened at $431.89 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.09 billion, a PE ratio of 18.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s fifty day moving average is $405.92 and its 200 day moving average is $393.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.81. Murphy USA Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $345.23 and a fifty-two week high of $523.09.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.60 by $0.65. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.43% and a return on equity of 69.87%. The business had revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.11 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.20 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th were paid a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is presently 10.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Murphy USA news, CEO Malynda K. West sold 4,051 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.00, for a total transaction of $1,721,675.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 117,389 shares in the company, valued at $49,890,325. This represents a 3.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO R Andrew Clyde sold 16,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.33, for a total value of $6,196,612.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 59,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,564,058.76. The trade was a 21.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 45,034 shares of company stock worth $17,349,722. Company insiders own 10.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Friday, January 9th. They issued an “underperform” rating for the company. Stephens upped their price objective on Murphy USA from $425.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Zacks Research raised Murphy USA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Murphy USA from $480.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $460.33.

About Murphy USA

Murphy USA is a leading downstream marketer of gasoline, diesel and convenience store products in the United States. Headquartered in El Dorado, Arkansas, the company was originally established as part of Murphy Oil Corporation and was spun off as an independent public entity in 2013. Since its separation, Murphy USA has focused on retail fueling services and convenience offerings designed to deliver value and convenience to consumers.

The company’s primary operations center on two retail formats.