Man Group plc Purchases New Stake in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Man Group plc purchased a new position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 91,525 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $49,320,000. Man Group plc owned about 0.50% of Murphy USA as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in Murphy USA in the fourth quarter worth about $6,874,000. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 23.2% during the 1st quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 146,119 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $71,986,000 after acquiring an additional 27,513 shares during the period. Evergreen Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,333,000. Millennium Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,029,000. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 45.4% in the 4th quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 9,765 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,940,000 after purchasing an additional 3,051 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Rosemary Turner sold 966 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $571.88, for a total value of $552,436.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 449 shares in the company, valued at $256,774.12. The trade was a 68.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Diane N. Landen sold 3,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the director directly owned 53,841 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,464,487.25. The trade was a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 9.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MUSA shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $550.00 to $625.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $655.00 to $633.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $520.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Murphy USA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $380.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $606.89.

Murphy USA Stock Down 2.3%

Shares of Murphy USA stock opened at $532.05 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $574.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $522.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.83 billion, a PE ratio of 16.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.28. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52-week low of $349.83 and a 52-week high of $636.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty retailer reported $11.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.95 by $1.32. The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.03 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.87% and a return on equity of 96.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 36.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $7.36 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 33.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 24th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.92%.

Murphy USA 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.