Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA Shares Acquired by VELA Investment Management LLC

VELA Investment Management LLC increased its position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 200.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,714 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 4,482 shares during the period. VELA Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $2,607,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUSA. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 2.7% in the second quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 34,898 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $14,197,000 after acquiring an additional 907 shares during the period. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 154.5% during the 2nd quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 6,305 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,565,000 after purchasing an additional 3,828 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Murphy USA during the 2nd quarter worth $93,967,000. Southernsun Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Murphy USA by 13.7% in the second quarter. Southernsun Asset Management LLC now owns 74,908 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $30,473,000 after purchasing an additional 9,051 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC increased its stake in Murphy USA by 144.0% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,627 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,185,000 after purchasing an additional 3,321 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MUSA shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $375.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $480.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Zacks Research raised shares of Murphy USA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Stephens raised their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $425.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Murphy USA in a report on Friday, January 9th. They set an “underperform” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $474.83.

Murphy USA Price Performance

MUSA opened at $427.49 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $403.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $393.33. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52-week low of $345.23 and a 52-week high of $523.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07. The company has a market cap of $8.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.39.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.60 by $0.65. The firm had revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.11 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 69.87% and a net margin of 2.43%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $7.20 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th were paid a dividend of $0.63 per share. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is presently 10.63%.

Insider Transactions at Murphy USA

In related news, CEO Malynda K. West sold 4,051 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.00, for a total value of $1,721,675.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 117,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,890,325. The trade was a 3.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO R Andrew Clyde sold 16,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.33, for a total value of $6,196,612.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 59,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,564,058.76. This represents a 21.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 45,034 shares of company stock worth $17,349,722. Corporate insiders own 9.04% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA 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.