New York State Common Retirement Fund Purchases 24,727 Shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 232.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,378 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,727 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $17,437,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 21.2% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 16,673 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $6,991,000 after acquiring an additional 2,911 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 10.3% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 13,461 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $5,646,000 after acquiring an additional 1,254 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 24.3% in the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,617 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $678,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 62.7% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,455 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,902,000 after acquiring an additional 1,717 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the second quarter worth $4,566,000. 80.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total value of $1,023,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total value of $1,023,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 13,454 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $514.38, for a total value of $6,920,468.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 382,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,971,533.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.73% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Raymond James boosted their target price on Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $415.00 to $435.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $495.33.

Murphy USA Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of MUSA stock opened at $492.01 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $495.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $476.99. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12-month low of $350.55 and a 12-month high of $552.30. The firm has a market cap of $10.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.30 and a beta of 0.75.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.64 by $0.56. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 62.73% and a net margin of 2.48%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 24.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is 7.43%.

Murphy USA Profile

Murphy USA Inc engages in marketing of retail motor fuel products and convenience merchandise. The company operates retail stores under the Murphy USA, Murphy Express, and QuickChek brands, as well as operates non-fuel convenience stores. It operates retail gasoline stores principally in the Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest United States.