Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Shares Purchased by Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC

Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,162 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $573,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUSA. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 6.1% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 35,240 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $17,369,000 after purchasing an additional 2,028 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 10.3% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 13,461 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $5,646,000 after acquiring an additional 1,254 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Murphy USA by 24.3% in the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,617 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $678,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the third quarter worth approximately $1,573,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy USA during the second quarter worth approximately $4,566,000. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Murphy USA Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of Murphy USA stock opened at $545.34 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $497.63 and a 200 day moving average of $486.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50 and a beta of 0.75. Murphy USA Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $350.55 and a fifty-two week high of $552.30.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.64 by $0.56. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 62.73% and a net margin of 2.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $7.69 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Murphy USA Inc. will post 23.59 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.92%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total value of $1,023,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. The trade was a 11.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 9.04% of the company’s stock.

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.