River Road Asset Management LLC Has $204.27 Million Stock Position in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

River Road Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 506,214 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 7,973 shares during the period. Murphy USA accounts for about 2.2% of River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $204,267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Virtu Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Murphy USA by 230.3% during the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 2,444 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $986,000 after buying an additional 1,704 shares during the last quarter. TMB Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the fourth quarter valued at about $556,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Murphy USA by 105.6% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,926 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,889,000 after buying an additional 2,530 shares in the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new stake in Murphy USA during the fourth quarter worth about $1,533,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in Murphy USA by 143.8% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 5,398 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,178,000 after buying an additional 3,184 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 41,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $596.96, for a total value 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 represents a 10.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Diane N. Landen sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 53,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 worth $27,363,392 in the last 90 days. 9.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Murphy USA Price Performance

Shares of Murphy USA stock opened at $550.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.30. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $544.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $467.28. Murphy USA Inc. has a twelve month low of $345.23 and a twelve month high of $636.04. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $4.70 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.81% and a return on equity of 91.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.63 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Murphy USA in a report on Thursday, March 26th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $539.00 price target for the company. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Murphy USA from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Murphy USA from $450.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen cut Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Murphy USA from $510.00 to $517.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $515.14.

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.