GSA Capital Partners LLP Invests $752,000 in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,936 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $752,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MUSA. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 4,468 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 20.2% in the third 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 during the period. Southernsun Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Murphy USA by 13.7% during the 2nd quarter. Southernsun Asset Management LLC now owns 74,908 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $30,473,000 after purchasing an additional 9,051 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 60.1% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 13,667 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $5,405,000 after purchasing an additional 5,128 shares during the period. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Murphy USA by 200.8% in the 3rd quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 6,714 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,607,000 after buying an additional 4,482 shares during the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MUSA. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Murphy USA from $467.00 to $445.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy USA in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research raised shares of Murphy USA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Friday, January 9th. They issued an “underperform” rating on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Thursday, February 5th. One 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 issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $457.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Murphy USA news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,219 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $386.09, for a total transaction of $470,643.71. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 5,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,288,355.43. The trade was a 17.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Malynda K. West sold 4,051 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 117,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,890,325. The trade was a 3.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 9,935 shares of company stock worth $4,248,945 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 9.04% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of MUSA stock opened at $389.93 on Friday. Murphy USA Inc. has a one year low of $345.23 and a one year high of $523.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $413.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $392.43. The stock has a market cap of $7.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.38.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The specialty retailer reported $7.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $0.86. The company had revenue of $4.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.88 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.43% and a return on equity of 75.75%. The business’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $6.96 EPS. Analysts predict that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.38%.

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.