Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Cuts Position in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC reduced its stake in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 73.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,083 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 5,695 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $809,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MUSA. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Murphy USA by 2,594.2% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 142,038 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $66,731,000 after buying an additional 136,766 shares during the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Murphy USA by 2.7% during the second quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 34,898 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $14,197,000 after purchasing an additional 907 shares during the period. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI grew its position in Murphy USA by 154.5% during the 2nd quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 6,305 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,565,000 after purchasing an additional 3,828 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy USA during the second quarter worth approximately $93,967,000. Finally, United Services Automobile Association purchased a new position in Murphy USA in the first quarter valued at about $536,000. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO R Andrew Clyde sold 24,733 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.33, for a total transaction of $9,431,434.89. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 131,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,963,381.92. The trade was a 15.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 10.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MUSA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $480.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $405.00 target price for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy USA in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $474.00.

Murphy USA Trading Down 1.2%

MUSA opened at $405.35 on Monday. Murphy USA Inc. has a twelve month low of $345.23 and a twelve month high of $523.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.10 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $383.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $391.20.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.60 by $0.65. The firm had revenue of $5.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.11 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.43% and a return on equity of 69.87%. The company’s revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $7.20 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th were issued a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.63%.

Murphy USA Profile

Murphy USA is a leading downstream marketer of gasoline, diesel and convenience store products in the United States. Headquartered in El Dorado, Arkansas, the company was originally established as part of Murphy Oil Corporation and was spun off as an independent public entity in 2013. Since its separation, Murphy USA has focused on retail fueling services and convenience offerings designed to deliver value and convenience to consumers.

The company’s primary operations center on two retail formats.