Cynosure Group LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Cynosure Group LLC lowered its position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 7.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,471 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 114 shares during the period. Cynosure Group LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $725,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 23.9% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 973 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $480,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Murphy USA in the third quarter valued at about $740,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 6.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,751,206 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $863,116,000 after acquiring an additional 99,253 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 547 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 14.5% in the third quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC now owns 1,162 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $573,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Murphy USA Stock Performance

MUSA opened at $555.48 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $11.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.92 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $497.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $488.24. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1 year low of $350.55 and a 1 year high of $558.65.

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

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be given a $0.48 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 7.92%.

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.