William Blair Investment Management LLC Cuts Position in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

William Blair Investment Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 53.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,550 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 21,042 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $7,202,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. AlphaQuest LLC increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 317.6% in the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 71 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 423.1% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 1,925.0% during the 2nd quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 81 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Murphy USA by 251.6% in the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 109 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, American National Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the third quarter valued at $64,000. 80.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MUSA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on Murphy USA from $467.00 to $445.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Stephens decreased their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $475.00 to $450.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of 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 issued an “underperform” rating for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy USA in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $457.50.

Murphy USA Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of NYSE MUSA opened at $410.73 on Wednesday. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12-month low of $345.23 and a 12-month high of $523.09. The company has a market cap of $7.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $411.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $393.02.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The specialty retailer reported $7.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $0.86. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 75.75% and a net margin of 2.43%.The firm had revenue of $4.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.88 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $6.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 EPS for the current year.

Murphy USA Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 23rd will be given a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is 10.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 2,844 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $388.61, for a total transaction of $1,105,206.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 3,083 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,198,084.63. The trade was a 47.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Malynda K. West sold 3,967 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $450.00, for a total value of $1,785,150.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 117,389 shares in the company, valued at $52,825,050. The trade was a 3.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 14,833 shares of company stock valued at $6,154,491 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 10.12% of the company’s stock.

About Murphy USA

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.