JPMorgan Chase & Co. Grows Holdings in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA - Free Report) by 69.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 428,379 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 176,308 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 2.12% of Murphy USA worth $211,135,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUSA. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 6.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,751,206 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $863,116,000 after purchasing an additional 99,253 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Murphy USA by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 590,558 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $291,068,000 after buying an additional 8,507 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Murphy USA by 49,501.3% during 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 buying an additional 388,090 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Murphy USA by 4.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 388,271 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $191,407,000 after buying an additional 16,006 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Murphy USA by 1.2% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 141,637 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $66,493,000 after acquiring an additional 1,635 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MUSA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Murphy USA from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $415.00 to $435.00 in a report on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $495.33.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

Shares of MUSA stock traded up $1.56 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $501.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 143,892 shares, compared to its average volume of 192,074. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19. The company has a 50 day moving average of $520.28 and a 200 day moving average of $504.31. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12-month low of $350.55 and a 12-month high of $561.08. The stock has a market cap of $10.16 billion, a PE ratio of 20.70 and a beta of 0.78.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.64 by $0.56. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $7.69 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 23.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This is an increase from Murphy USA's previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. Murphy USA's payout ratio is presently 7.92%.

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.