Insider Selling: Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) SVP Sells $52,360.00 in Stock

Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) SVP Eric Bartko sold 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $523.60, for a total value of $52,360.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $131,947.20. This trade represents a 28.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Murphy USA Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MUSA opened at $511.16 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $571.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $528.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.44 billion, a PE ratio of 15.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Murphy USA Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $349.83 and a fifty-two week high of $636.04.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty retailer reported $11.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.95 by $1.32. The company had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.03 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 96.01% and a net margin of 2.87%.Murphy USA’s quarterly revenue was up 36.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $7.36 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Murphy USA Inc. will post 34.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 24th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 24th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is 7.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MUSA. Corient Private Wealth LP grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 121.4% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 4,680 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,522,000 after purchasing an additional 2,566 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in Murphy USA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,724,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Murphy USA by 49,904.6% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 10,410,968 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $5,610,158,000 after purchasing an additional 10,390,148 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its stake in Murphy USA by 14.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,062 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,217,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Murphy USA by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 802 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MUSA. Capital One Financial began coverage on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Monday, June 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $710.00 price target for the company. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Murphy USA from $655.00 to $633.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Murphy USA from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Murphy USA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $606.89.

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.