Barclays PLC raised its position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA - Free Report) by 46.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,890 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after acquiring an additional 3,135 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC's holdings in Murphy USA were worth $4,874,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MUSA. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 1.3% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 38,705 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $18,171,000 after acquiring an additional 492 shares during the last quarter. &PARTNERS increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 826 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,085,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the 2nd quarter valued at about $776,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Murphy USA by 0.8% during 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 buying an additional 1,560 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.81% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several analysts recently weighed in on MUSA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded 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 report on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Murphy USA from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $495.33.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on MUSA
Murphy USA Price Performance
Shares of Murphy USA stock traded down $5.70 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $519.99. 465,242 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 193,984. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52 week low of $350.55 and a 52 week high of $561.08. The firm has a market cap of $10.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.45 and a beta of 0.78. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $516.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $500.95.
Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $5.24 billion for 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 for the quarter was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $7.69 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 23.59 earnings per share for the current year.
Murphy USA Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This is an increase from Murphy USA's previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.37%. Murphy USA's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.92%.
Murphy USA Company Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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