Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Shares Sold by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lowered its stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 4.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,718 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 779 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 0.08% of Murphy USA worth $7,747,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUSA. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Murphy USA by 49,501.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 388,874 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $191,664,000 after purchasing an additional 388,090 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Murphy USA by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 204,363 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $95,940,000 after purchasing an additional 1,560 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Murphy USA by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 141,637 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $66,493,000 after purchasing an additional 1,635 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp purchased a new position in Murphy USA in the 3rd quarter valued at $53,387,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Murphy USA by 14.6% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 97,011 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $45,543,000 after purchasing an additional 12,336 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MUSA has been the topic of a number of research reports. 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 report on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com lowered Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Murphy USA has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $495.33.

Murphy USA Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE MUSA opened at $540.66 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $10.95 billion, a PE ratio of 22.30 and a beta of 0.78. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52 week low of $350.55 and a 52 week high of $561.08. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $504.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $493.32. 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 (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.48% and a return on equity of 62.73%. Murphy USA’s revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $7.69 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 23.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were given a $0.48 dividend. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is currently 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.