Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New $439,000 Investment in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 892 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $439,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MUSA. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Murphy USA by 49,501.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 388,874 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $191,664,000 after purchasing an additional 388,090 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new position in Murphy USA during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,387,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Murphy USA by 6.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,751,206 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $863,116,000 after acquiring an additional 99,253 shares in the last quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Murphy USA by 1,359.6% in the second quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 93,326 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $43,813,000 after acquiring an additional 86,932 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy USA in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,122,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MUSA shares. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $415.00 to $435.00 in a report on Thursday, September 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $495.33.

Murphy USA Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Murphy USA stock opened at $547.80 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $501.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $490.76. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52-week low of $350.55 and a 52-week high of $561.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.65 and a beta of 0.75. 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 (NYSE:MUSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.64 by $0.56. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.48% and a return on equity of 62.73%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $7.69 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 23.59 EPS for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.92%.

About Murphy USA

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.