Fiera Capital Corp Takes $53.39 Million Position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Fiera Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 108,318 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $53,387,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 40.4% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Murphy USA by 3.8% in the second quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 784 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $368,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Murphy USA by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 580 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in Murphy USA by 141.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 70 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Murphy USA by 25.6% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 201 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MUSA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $415.00 to $435.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James lifted their target price on Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $495.33.

Insider Activity at Murphy USA

In related news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total transaction of $1,023,080.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,242,955.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 9.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Murphy USA Stock Up 2.6 %

NYSE MUSA traded up $13.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $521.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 19,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 197,544. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $495.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $477.44. Murphy USA Inc. has a twelve month low of $350.55 and a twelve month high of $552.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.97 and a beta of 0.75.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.64 by $0.56. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.54 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.48% and a return on equity of 62.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $7.69 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 23.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.37%. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is 7.92%.

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.