Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA Shares Bought by Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its position in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 130.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,506 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 7,090 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky owned about 0.07% of Murphy USA worth $6,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Murphy USA by 149.9% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 507,418 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $204,753,000 after acquiring an additional 304,354 shares in the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Murphy USA by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 506,214 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $204,267,000 after purchasing an additional 7,973 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 45.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 318,473 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $128,511,000 after purchasing an additional 99,798 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 300,758 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $121,365,000 after purchasing an additional 1,930 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Murphy USA by 676.7% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 170,215 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $69,243,000 after buying an additional 148,301 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MUSA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Murphy USA in a report on Thursday, March 26th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $539.00 target price for the company. Zacks Research downgraded Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Capital One Financial assumed coverage on Murphy USA in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $710.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $579.56.

Murphy USA Trading Up 3.5%

MUSA opened at $611.00 on Tuesday. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $345.23 and a one year high of $636.04. The company has a market cap of $11.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.12, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.30. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $560.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $486.61.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $5.37 by $1.91. The firm had revenue of $4.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.70 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 91.05% and a net margin of 2.81%.The firm’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Murphy USA

In other Murphy USA news, Director Diane N. Landen sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $29,464,487.25. This represents a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Keith A. Emery sold 517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.49, for a total value of $297,011.33. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $287,245. The trade was a 50.84% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 46,225 shares of company stock worth $27,363,392. Insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

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.