Koshinski Asset Management Inc. Makes New $488,000 Investment in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Koshinski Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 988 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $488,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 149.9% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 507,418 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $204,753,000 after buying an additional 304,354 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 676.7% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Murphy USA during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,726,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Murphy USA by 1,723.1% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 132,450 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $53,446,000 after acquiring an additional 125,185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 45.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 318,473 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $128,511,000 after acquiring an additional 99,798 shares in the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MUSA. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $550.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Murphy USA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $380.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Zacks Research cut Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Capital One Financial started coverage on Murphy USA in a report on Monday, June 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $710.00 price objective on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $571.22.

Murphy USA Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE MUSA opened at $574.08 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $10.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.84, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $555.74 and its 200 day moving average is $481.22. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52 week low of $345.23 and a 52 week high of $636.04.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.37 by $1.91. The firm 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.63 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. 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. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 41,500 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $596.96, for a total value of $24,773,840.00. Following the sale, the director owned 342,212 shares in the company, valued at $204,286,875.52. The trade was a 10.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 transaction of $297,011.33. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $287,245. This represents a 50.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 46,225 shares of company stock valued at $27,363,392 over the last three months. Insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

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.