Meeder Asset Management Inc. Takes Position in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,864 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $4,238,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MUSA. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 106.7% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 423.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. WPG Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 148.5% during the fourth quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 82 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Murphy USA during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC increased its position in Murphy USA by 82.5% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 73 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MUSA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $655.00 to $633.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Murphy USA from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Weiss Ratings raised Murphy USA from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Murphy USA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $380.00 to $550.00 in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.89.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

NYSE MUSA opened at $576.04 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $579.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $516.83. The stock has a market cap of $10.64 billion, a PE ratio of 17.54, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.92. Murphy USA Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $349.83 and a fifty-two week high of $636.04.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty retailer reported $11.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.95 by $1.32. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.87% and a return on equity of 96.01%. The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $7.36 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 36.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 33.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 24th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.44, for a total transaction of $555,912.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 3,083 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,632,263.52. This represents a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Diane N. Landen sold 3,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the director owned 53,841 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,464,487.25. This trade represents a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 9.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.