Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. Grows Position in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 49.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,116 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 3,671 shares during the period. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $4,316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. River Road Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 491,641 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $200,000,000 after acquiring an additional 95,259 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Murphy USA by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 446,654 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $181,732,000 after purchasing an additional 3,447 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Murphy USA during the 2nd quarter valued at about $93,967,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 3,650.7% in the second quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 180,858 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $73,573,000 after purchasing an additional 176,036 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 676.7% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 170,215 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $69,243,000 after purchasing an additional 148,301 shares during the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

MUSA opened at $452.63 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $397.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $392.95. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1 year low of $345.23 and a 1 year high of $523.09.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.43% and a return on equity of 69.87%. The business had revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $7.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MUSA. Zacks Research raised Murphy USA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Friday, January 9th. They set an “underperform” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $405.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy USA in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $480.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Murphy USA presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $474.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Murphy USA news, CEO Malynda K. West sold 4,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.00, for a total value of $1,721,675.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 117,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,890,325. This trade represents a 3.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO R Andrew Clyde sold 24,733 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.33, for a total value of $9,431,434.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 131,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,963,381.92. This trade represents a 15.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 45,034 shares of company stock worth $17,349,722 in the last quarter. 9.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.