GFS Advisors LLC bought a new position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA – Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 978 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $395,000.
Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MUSA. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Murphy USA by 318.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 424,818 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $164,940,000 after acquiring an additional 323,331 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 0.4% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 298,828 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $116,029,000 after acquiring an additional 1,097 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 66.0% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 203,064 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $78,842,000 after purchasing an additional 80,702 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Murphy USA by 3.9% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 188,664 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $73,251,000 after purchasing an additional 7,145 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Murphy USA by 676.7% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 170,215 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $69,243,000 after buying an additional 148,301 shares during the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research raised Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $510.00 to $517.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Murphy USA from $450.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings raised Murphy USA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Murphy USA from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $350.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.71.
Insider Transactions at Murphy USA
In other news, Director Diane N. Landen sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $547.25, for a total value of $1,641,750.00. Following the sale, the director owned 53,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,464,487.25. This represents a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Scott G. Woodward sold 158 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.50, for a total value of $94,879.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $285,838. This represents a 24.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 46,225 shares of company stock worth $27,363,392 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.
Murphy USA Stock Performance
MUSA opened at $556.64 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.24, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a fifty day moving average of $532.56 and a 200 day moving average of $456.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.83. Murphy USA Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $345.23 and a fifty-two week high of $609.82.
Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.37 by $1.91. The company had revenue of $4.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.70 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 91.05% and a net margin of 2.81%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.63 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Murphy USA Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were given a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.85%.
About Murphy USA
Murphy USA is a leading downstream marketer of gasoline, diesel and convenience store products in the United States. Headquartered in El Dorado, Arkansas, the company was originally established as part of Murphy Oil Corporation and was spun off as an independent public entity in 2013. Since its separation, Murphy USA has focused on retail fueling services and convenience offerings designed to deliver value and convenience to consumers.
The company’s primary operations center on two retail formats.
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