Bank of New York Mellon Corp Raises Stock Holdings in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 3.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 149,064 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,836 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $73,633,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MUSA. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in Murphy USA by 82.4% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank raised its position in shares of Murphy USA by 106.7% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 423.1% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Murphy USA during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, WPG Advisers LLC grew its position in Murphy USA by 148.5% in the fourth quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 82 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Scott G. Woodward sold 158 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.50, for a total transaction of $94,879.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 476 shares in the company, valued at approximately $285,838. The trade was a 24.92% 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $547.25, for a total transaction of $1,641,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 46,225 shares of company stock worth $27,363,392. 9.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MUSA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased 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. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $550.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Murphy USA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $380.00 to $550.00 in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Capital One Financial initiated coverage on shares of Murphy USA in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $710.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $585.11.

Murphy USA Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:MUSA opened at $618.22 on Thursday. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52-week low of $345.23 and a 52-week high of $636.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $564.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $496.66. 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 released its quarterly 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. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 91.05% and a net margin of 2.81%.The company had revenue of $4.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were given a dividend of $0.64 per share. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. Murphy USA’s 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.