WINTON GROUP Ltd Purchases New Position in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 17,036 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $6,874,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 82.4% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank grew 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 worth $25,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new position in Murphy USA during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. AlphaQuest LLC grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 317.6% during the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 71 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Finally, 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 valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. 80.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $560.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $510.00 to $517.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $450.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Murphy USA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Murphy USA from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $350.00 to $550.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.71.

Murphy USA Price Performance

Shares of MUSA opened at $545.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The company’s 50-day moving average is $530.47 and its 200-day moving average is $453.75. Murphy USA Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $345.23 and a fifty-two week high of $609.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.08 billion, a PE ratio of 18.86, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.30.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 2.81% and a return on equity of 91.05%. The business had revenue of $4.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.63 earnings per share. Murphy USA’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.32 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.85%.

Insider Activity

In other Murphy USA news, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 41,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $596.96, for a total transaction of $24,773,840.00. Following the sale, the director directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Keith A. Emery sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.49, for a total transaction of $297,011.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $287,245. This trade represents a 50.84% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 43,225 shares of company stock valued at $25,721,642. Corporate insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

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.