Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Purchases 673 Shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 14.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,294 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 673 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $2,609,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 40.4% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Murphy USA by 3.8% in the second quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 784 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Murphy USA by 5.6% during the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 580 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in Murphy USA by 141.4% during the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 70 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 25.6% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 201 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MUSA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James raised their price objective on Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $415.00 to $435.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 26th. 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 MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $495.33.

Murphy USA Trading Up 0.1 %

MUSA opened at $529.19 on Friday. Murphy USA Inc. has a one year low of $350.55 and a one 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $497.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $482.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83 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 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 the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $7.69 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Murphy USA Inc. will post 23.61 EPS for the current 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 given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.92%.

Insider Activity

In other Murphy USA news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total value of $1,023,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,114 shares in the company, valued at $8,242,955.56. This trade 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 link. Insiders own 9.04% 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.