Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA Shares Sold by Roundview Capital LLC

Roundview Capital LLC cut its holdings in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 64.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,252 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 2,319 shares during the period. Roundview Capital LLC’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $505,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Enhancing Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Enhancing Capital LLC now owns 1,132 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $457,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,752 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $707,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 4.8% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 585 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 82.4% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 1.9% during the third quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,470 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America raised 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. Weiss Ratings raised Murphy USA from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Murphy USA in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $539.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp upped their target price on Murphy USA from $560.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.71.

Murphy USA Price Performance

NYSE MUSA opened at $515.22 on Thursday. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $522.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $446.14. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1 year low of $345.23 and a 1 year high of $609.82. The company has a market cap of $9.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.81, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.36.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share (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 firm 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 firm earned $2.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 31.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is 8.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Murphy USA news, SVP Scott G. Woodward sold 158 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.50, for a total transaction of $94,879.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $285,838. This trade represents a 24.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 value of $297,011.33. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 500 shares in the company, valued at $287,245. This represents a 50.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 43,362 shares of company stock valued at $25,779,517 over the last quarter. 9.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.