Keith Emery Sells 517 Shares of Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) Stock

Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) SVP Keith Emery sold 517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.49, for a total transaction of $297,011.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $287,245. This represents a 50.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Murphy USA Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE MUSA opened at $569.26 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $511.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $438.68. The stock has a market cap of $10.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.36. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12-month low of $345.23 and a 12-month high of $609.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.37 by $1.91. The business had revenue of $4.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.70 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.81% and a return on equity of 91.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.63 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 31.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a $0.64 dividend. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 18th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is 8.85%.

Institutional Trading of Murphy USA

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its position in shares of Murphy USA by 20.2% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 138,998 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $53,967,000 after purchasing an additional 23,349 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Murphy USA by 3.5% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 132,705 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $51,524,000 after purchasing an additional 4,468 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Murphy USA by 60.1% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 13,667 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $5,405,000 after purchasing an additional 5,128 shares during the period. VELA Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Murphy USA by 200.8% in the third quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 6,714 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,607,000 after purchasing an additional 4,482 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Murphy USA by 6.0% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 63,638 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $24,708,000 after purchasing an additional 3,614 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MUSA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Stephens decreased their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $475.00 to $450.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Murphy USA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Murphy USA in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $539.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Murphy USA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.71.

Murphy USA Company Profile

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.