Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. Has $3.03 Million Holdings in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 2.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,445 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $3,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUSA. GW&K Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy USA in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy USA in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC grew its stake in Murphy USA by 116.7% in the first quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 65 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy USA in the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new stake in Murphy USA in the first quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MUSA. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $480.00 target price on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Friday, September 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $350.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, August 1st. Zacks Research lowered Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Murphy USA from $520.00 to $440.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $483.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert Madison Murphy bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $367.01 per share, with a total value of $1,835,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 389,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,830,015.72. This represents a 1.30% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Malynda K. West sold 1,859 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $386.22, for a total value of $717,982.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 117,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,337,979.58. This represents a 1.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 10.12% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

Shares of Murphy USA stock opened at $379.72 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $384.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $423.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.72 and a beta of 0.42. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12 month low of $345.23 and a 12 month high of $561.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.20.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.82 by $0.54. The business had revenue of $5.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.17 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 64.63% and a net margin of 2.52%.Murphy USA’s quarterly revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $6.92 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 EPS for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 25th were given a $0.53 dividend. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 25th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

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.