CenterBook Partners LP Acquires 5,525 Shares of Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

CenterBook Partners LP grew its holdings in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 145.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,329 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,525 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $3,764,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the fourth quarter worth $6,874,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 3.5% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 132,705 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $51,524,000 after purchasing an additional 4,468 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 14.9% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 22,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $8,775,000 after purchasing an additional 2,939 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 6.0% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 63,638 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $24,708,000 after purchasing an additional 3,614 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the fourth quarter worth $1,134,000. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $450.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Murphy USA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Bank of America raised shares of Murphy USA from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $350.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased 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 note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. One 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.71.

Insider Activity at Murphy USA

In related news, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 41,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $596.96, for a total transaction of $24,773,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 342,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,286,875.52. This trade represents a 10.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Keith A. Emery sold 517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.49, for a total transaction of $297,011.33. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $287,245. The trade was a 50.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 43,225 shares of company stock valued at $25,721,642. Insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

MUSA opened at $547.31 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.92, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a fifty day moving average of $531.54 and a 200 day moving average of $455.67. Murphy USA Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $345.23 and a fifty-two week high of $609.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted 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. The company 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%. Murphy USA’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.63 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Murphy USA’s dividend 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.