Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Takes Position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 892 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $439,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Murphy USA by 6.1% in 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 during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 316 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Murphy USA during the 3rd quarter worth $1,573,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the 2nd quarter worth $4,566,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 28.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,546 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,906,000 after buying an additional 1,005 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on MUSA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $415.00 to $435.00 in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. StockNews.com cut Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 26th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $495.33.

Murphy USA Stock Down 1.0 %

MUSA stock opened at $547.80 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52 week low of $350.55 and a 52 week high of $561.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.09 billion, a PE ratio of 22.65 and a beta of 0.75. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $501.52 and a 200 day moving average of $490.76.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.64 by $0.56. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 62.73% and a net margin of 2.48%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $7.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 23.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm 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 positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.