Cadent Capital Advisors LLC Buys New Position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Cadent Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 555 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $274,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 1,091.4% during the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 14,464 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $6,063,000 after acquiring an additional 13,250 shares during the last quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,258,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 21.2% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 16,673 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $6,991,000 after buying an additional 2,911 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its position in shares of Murphy USA by 10.3% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 13,461 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $5,646,000 after buying an additional 1,254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 24.3% in the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,617 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $678,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Murphy USA

In other news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total value of $1,023,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 16,114 shares in the company, valued at $8,242,955.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 13,454 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $514.38, for a total transaction of $6,920,468.52. Following the transaction, the director now owns 382,930 shares in the company, valued at $196,971,533.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,209 shares of company stock worth $16,564,666 in the last three months. 9.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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 report on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $464.57.

Murphy USA Price Performance

Shares of MUSA opened at $480.61 on Friday. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12 month low of $350.55 and a 12 month high of $552.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $502.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $471.25. The company has a market cap of $9.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.17 and a beta of 0.77.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty retailer reported $6.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.91 by $0.01. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 64.73%. The firm had revenue of $5.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.69 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.02 EPS. Murphy USA’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 24.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Monday, August 26th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.37%. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 26th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is 7.55%.

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.