Lindenwold Advisors INC Buys 39 Shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Lindenwold Advisors INC increased its stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,089 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 39 shares during the quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $537,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Murphy USA in the third quarter worth approximately $1,599,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 90.4% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 20,685 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $10,195,000 after acquiring an additional 9,822 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 476 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Murphy USA during the 3rd quarter valued at $433,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Murphy USA by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,294 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,609,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Murphy USA

In related news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total transaction of $1,023,080.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,114 shares in the company, valued at $8,242,955.56. The trade was a 11.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 9.73% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MUSA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on 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 reduced their price target on Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $415.00 to $435.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 26th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $495.33.

Murphy USA Price Performance

Shares of MUSA stock opened at $521.00 on Tuesday. 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 fifty-two week low of $350.55 and a fifty-two week high of $552.30. The firm has a market cap of $10.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.49 and a beta of 0.75. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $497.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $482.83.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.64 by $0.56. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $7.69 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 23.61 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.37%. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is presently 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.