Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 86 Shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado cut its stake in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 63,411 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 86 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado owned approximately 0.31% of Murphy USA worth $31,816,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy USA during the 4th quarter worth about $1,207,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy USA during the fourth quarter worth approximately $11,529,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 69.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 428,379 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $211,135,000 after acquiring an additional 176,308 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 58.6% in the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,838 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $922,000 after acquiring an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in Murphy USA by 46.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 9,890 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,135 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CMO Renee M. Bacon sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.58, for a total value of $939,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 5,927 shares in the company, valued at $2,783,200.66. This represents a 25.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jeanne Linder Phillips sold 797 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.31, for a total value of $360,491.07. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,062,476.19. This represents a 25.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,594 shares of company stock worth $1,695,043. Insiders own 9.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MUSA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Melius started coverage on Murphy USA in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price objective on the stock. Stephens upgraded shares of Murphy USA to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Melius Research raised shares of Murphy USA to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Friday, April 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $550.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $539.00.

Murphy USA Trading Up 0.9 %

MUSA opened at $490.72 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $470.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $493.66. Murphy USA Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $382.04 and a fifty-two week high of $561.08. The company has a market cap of $9.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.28 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The specialty retailer reported $6.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.46 by $0.50. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.48% and a return on equity of 61.60%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a $0.49 dividend. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.10%.

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.