Empowered Funds LLC Purchases New Shares in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC acquired 5,234 Murphy USA shares worth approximately $2.82 million in the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 80.81% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with six Buy ratings and five Holds producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $606.89.
• Murphy USA exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $11.27 EPS and $6.81 billion in revenue, while raising its quarterly dividend to $0.65 per share.

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 5,234 shares of the specialty retailer's stock, valued at approximately $2,820,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MUSA. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,874,000. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Murphy USA by 23.2% in the 1st quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 146,119 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $71,986,000 after buying an additional 27,513 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the 4th quarter valued at $1,333,000. Millennium Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA during the fourth quarter worth $1,029,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 21,756.4% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 41,090 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $16,581,000 after acquiring an additional 40,902 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Rosemary Turner sold 966 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $571.88, for a total value of $552,436.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 449 shares in the company, valued at $256,774.12. This trade represents a 68.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Diane N. Landen sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $547.25, for a total value of $1,641,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 53,841 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,464,487.25. The trade was a 5.28% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 9.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Murphy USA from $520.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Murphy USA from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Murphy USA from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $550.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $380.00 to $550.00 in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $606.89.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

Shares of MUSA opened at $520.21 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $9.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.84, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.92. Murphy USA Inc. has a twelve month low of $349.83 and a twelve month high of $636.04. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $571.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $527.48.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty retailer reported $11.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $9.95 by $1.32. The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.03 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 96.01% and a net margin of 2.87%.The company's revenue was up 36.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $7.36 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 34.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 24th. This is a positive change from Murphy USA's previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Murphy USA's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.92%.

Murphy USA Company 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.

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