9,588 Shares in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA Bought by PDT Partners LLC

Key Points

• PDT Partners LLC has acquired 9,588 shares of Murphy USA Inc. worth approximately $4,505,000, during the first quarter, indicating growing interest from institutional investors in the company.
• Murphy USA recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.50 to $0.53 per share, reflecting a commitment to returning value to investors.
• The company reported $7.36 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing analyst expectations, although its revenue of $5.01 billion fell short of estimates.

PDT Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,588 shares of the specialty retailer's stock, valued at approximately $4,505,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 53,469.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 553,906 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $260,231,000 after buying an additional 552,872 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 5.4% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 442,130 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $207,717,000 after buying an additional 22,733 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 94.0% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 371,667 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $174,613,000 after buying an additional 180,055 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Murphy USA by 21.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 268,373 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $126,065,000 after purchasing an additional 46,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Murphy USA by 61.5% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 252,575 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $118,662,000 after purchasing an additional 96,200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MUSA. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Murphy USA from $520.00 to $440.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Raymond James Financial cut Murphy USA from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Murphy USA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Friday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $476.29.

Murphy USA Stock Up 3.4%

NYSE MUSA traded up $12.63 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $386.27. 308,134 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 247,838. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.20, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $7.45 billion, a PE ratio of 15.99 and a beta of 0.44. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $398.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $436.19. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52 week low of $345.23 and a 52 week high of $561.08.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.82 by $0.54. The business had revenue of $5.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.17 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 64.63% and a net margin of 2.52%.The business's revenue for the quarter was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $6.92 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 25th were given a dividend of $0.53 per share. This is a boost from Murphy USA's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 25th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Murphy USA's payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy USA

In other news, COO Malynda K. West sold 1,859 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $386.22, for a total transaction of $717,982.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 117,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,337,979.58. This represents a 1.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy acquired 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $367.01 per share, with a total value of $1,835,050.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 389,172 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,830,015.72. The trade was a 1.30% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 9.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.