Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Purchases 40,902 Shares of Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 21,756.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,090 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 40,902 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $16,581,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in Murphy USA by 20.2% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 138,998 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $53,967,000 after purchasing an additional 23,349 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Murphy USA by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 132,705 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $51,524,000 after purchasing an additional 4,468 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. increased its holdings in Murphy USA by 60.1% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 13,667 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $5,405,000 after purchasing an additional 5,128 shares in the last quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Murphy USA by 200.8% during the 3rd quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 6,714 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,607,000 after purchasing an additional 4,482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Murphy USA by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 63,638 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $24,708,000 after purchasing an additional 3,614 shares in the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America raised Murphy USA from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $350.00 to $550.00 in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Murphy USA from $560.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Murphy USA in a report on Thursday, March 26th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $539.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen raised Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Murphy USA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.71.

Insider Activity

In other Murphy USA news, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 41,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $596.96, for a total transaction of $24,773,840.00. Following the sale, the director owned 342,212 shares in the company, valued at $204,286,875.52. This represents 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 stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.49, for a total value of $297,011.33. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $287,245. This represents a 50.84% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 47,210 shares of company stock valued at $27,129,150. 9.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Murphy USA Price Performance

Murphy USA stock opened at $556.12 on Thursday. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12 month low of $345.23 and a 12 month high of $609.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $513.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $440.05. The company has a market cap of $10.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.22, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.36.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 EPS 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 business had revenue of $4.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.63 earnings per share. Murphy USA’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 31.8 EPS for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be 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 dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.85%.

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.