Norges Bank Acquires Shares of 125,710 Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Norges Bank bought a new stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 125,710 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $50,726,000. Norges Bank owned about 0.68% of Murphy USA as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Enhancing Capital LLC lifted its position in Murphy USA by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Enhancing Capital LLC now owns 1,132 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $457,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,752 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $707,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 82.4% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in Murphy USA by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,470 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $571,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verus Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Murphy USA by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 568 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $221,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upped 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 report on Thursday, April 30th. Zacks Research raised shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Murphy USA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Bank of America upgraded shares of Murphy USA from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $350.00 to $550.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Murphy USA from $560.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.71.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

NYSE:MUSA opened at $545.76 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $530.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $454.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24. The stock has a market cap of $10.08 billion, a PE ratio of 18.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.30. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.37 by $1.91. The firm 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 revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.63 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is 8.85%.

Insider Activity at Murphy USA

In related news, 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $285,838. This trade represents a 24.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 41,500 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $596.96, for a total value of $24,773,840.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 342,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,286,875.52. This represents a 10.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 43,225 shares of company stock valued at $25,721,642 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

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.