Norges Bank Purchases Shares of 125,710 Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 125,710 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $50,726,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 3.5% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Murphy USA by 14.9% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 22,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $8,775,000 after purchasing an additional 2,939 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Murphy USA by 6.0% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 63,638 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $24,708,000 after purchasing an additional 3,614 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management purchased a new position in Murphy USA during the fourth quarter worth about $1,134,000. Finally, Millennium Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Murphy USA during the fourth quarter worth about $1,029,000. 80.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on MUSA. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Murphy USA from $510.00 to $517.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $560.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $450.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, 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. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy USA

In other news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.44, for a total value of $555,912.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 3,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,632,263.52. This trade represents a 25.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Scott G. Woodward sold 158 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.50, for a total transaction of $94,879.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 476 shares in the company, valued at $285,838. The trade was a 24.92% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 43,225 shares of company stock valued at $25,721,642. 9.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MUSA opened at $545.76 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $530.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $454.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.08 billion, a PE ratio of 18.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12 month low of $345.23 and a 12 month high of $609.82.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $4.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.63 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were given a dividend of $0.64 per share. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.85%.

About Murphy USA

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.