Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI Makes New Investment in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,010 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $474,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MUSA. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 74.7% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 9,028 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,219,000 after buying an additional 3,860 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in Murphy USA by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 2,040 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $727,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 194,560 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $69,372,000 after purchasing an additional 1,986 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the 4th quarter valued at about $184,000. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MUSA has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James increased their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com raised Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $469.50.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

Shares of MUSA traded up $0.75 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $514.26. 12,161 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 202,646. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.55 and a beta of 0.77. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $497.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $452.60. Murphy USA Inc. has a twelve month low of $309.18 and a twelve month high of $522.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.52.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty retailer reported $6.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.91 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 64.73%. Murphy USA’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $6.02 EPS. Analysts predict that Murphy USA Inc. will post 24.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 26th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 26th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is 7.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy USA

In other news, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 16,755 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $514.54, for a total transaction of $8,621,117.70. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 396,384 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,955,423.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 16,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $514.54, for a total value of $8,621,117.70. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 396,384 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,955,423.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,209 shares of company stock valued at $16,564,666. 9.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Murphy USA Profile

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.