New York State Teachers Retirement System Decreases Stock Position in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

New York State Teachers Retirement System lessened its stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 9.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,875 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 1,955 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.10% of Murphy USA worth $8,830,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MUSA. Kenora Financial LLC increased its stake in Murphy USA by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Kenora Financial LLC now owns 654 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Enhancing Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Enhancing Capital LLC now owns 1,132 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $457,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 1.4% in 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 last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 3.0% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 864 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Murphy USA

In related news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.44, for a total value of $555,912.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 3,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,632,263.52. This represents a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $547.25, for a total value of $1,641,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 53,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,464,487.25. This trade represents a 5.28% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 46,225 shares of company stock valued at $27,363,392 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MUSA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $550.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $510.00 to $517.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 27th. Zacks Research lowered Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Murphy USA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $571.22.

Murphy USA Stock Up 1.5%

MUSA traded up $8.55 on Tuesday, hitting $571.62. The company had a trading volume of 25,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 343,652. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52-week low of $345.23 and a 52-week high of $636.04. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $554.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $480.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.30.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.63 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a $0.64 dividend. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.85%.

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.