Renee Bacon Sells 2,844 Shares of Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) Stock

Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) SVP Renee Bacon sold 2,844 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $388.61, for a total transaction of $1,105,206.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 3,083 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,198,084.63. This represents a 47.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Murphy USA Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of MUSA traded down $3.98 on Tuesday, hitting $387.55. 176,388 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 343,091. Murphy USA Inc. has a one year low of $345.23 and a one year high of $523.09. The company has a market capitalization of $7.18 billion, a PE ratio of 15.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $413.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $392.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The specialty retailer reported $7.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $0.86. The business had revenue of $4.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.88 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 75.75% and a net margin of 2.43%.The company’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $6.96 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 5th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on MUSA. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy USA in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $467.00 to $445.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Friday, January 9th. They set an “underperform” rating on the stock. Stephens cut their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $475.00 to $450.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, KeyCorp set a $500.00 target price on shares of Murphy USA in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Murphy USA presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $457.50.

Institutional Trading of Murphy USA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Murphy USA by 149.9% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 507,418 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $204,753,000 after acquiring an additional 304,354 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Murphy USA by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 506,214 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $204,267,000 after acquiring an additional 7,973 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 446,654 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $181,732,000 after purchasing an additional 3,447 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 323,331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Murphy USA by 45.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 318,473 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $128,511,000 after purchasing an additional 99,798 shares during the period. 80.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.