Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA Shares Bought by Inspire Investing LLC

Inspire Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 16.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,488 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 1,056 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $3,699,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in Murphy USA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,874,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Murphy USA by 14.9% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 22,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $8,775,000 after buying an additional 2,939 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Murphy USA by 6.0% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 63,638 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $24,708,000 after buying an additional 3,614 shares during the period. Millennium Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Murphy USA during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,029,000. Finally, Evergreen Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the fourth quarter worth $1,333,000. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Murphy USA Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:MUSA opened at $534.70 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a 50 day moving average of $550.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $474.57. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52-week low of $345.23 and a 52-week high of $636.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.37 by $1.91. The business had revenue of $4.82 billion for 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $2.63 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Diane N. Landen sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 53,841 shares in the company, valued at $29,464,487.25. This trade represents a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Scott G. Woodward sold 158 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.50, for a total value of $94,879.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 476 shares in the company, valued at approximately $285,838. The trade was a 24.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 46,225 shares of company stock worth $27,363,392 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MUSA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America raised shares of Murphy USA from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $350.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Murphy USA from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Murphy USA from $450.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Murphy USA presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $539.50.

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.