OP Asset Management Ltd Invests $2.49 Million in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

OP Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 5,036 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,488,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in Murphy USA by 82.4% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank grew its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 106.7% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the third quarter worth $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 423.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Murphy USA from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Murphy USA from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $350.00 to $550.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target 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, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $450.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $539.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.44, for a total value of $555,912.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 3,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,632,263.52. The trade was a 25.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Diane N. Landen sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $547.25, for a total transaction of $1,641,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 53,841 shares in the company, valued at $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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 46,225 shares of company stock worth $27,363,392. 9.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Murphy USA Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Murphy USA stock opened at $524.87 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $9.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.30. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $549.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $472.97. Murphy USA Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $345.23 and a fifty-two week high of $636.04.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.37 by $1.91. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 91.05% and a net margin of 2.81%.The business had revenue of $4.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.63 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

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

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.