Havemeyer Place LP Acquires New Holdings in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Havemeyer Place LP acquired a new stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 942 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $380,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,874,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in Murphy USA by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new position in Murphy USA in the 4th quarter worth approximately $348,000. Verus Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Murphy USA by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 603 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Murphy USA in the 4th quarter worth approximately $234,000. 80.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

MUSA opened at $556.64 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $10.28 billion, a PE ratio of 19.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1 year low of $345.23 and a 1 year high of $609.82. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $532.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $456.91.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.37 by $1.91. The business had revenue of $4.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.70 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 91.05% and a net margin of 2.81%.Murphy USA’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.63 earnings per share. Sell-side 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were given a dividend of $0.64 per share. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on 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 lifted their price target on Murphy USA from $450.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Murphy USA from $560.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America raised Murphy USA from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy USA

In related news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.44, for a total value of $555,912.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 3,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,632,263.52. The trade was a 25.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 41,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $596.96, for a total value of $24,773,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 342,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,286,875.52. This represents a 10.82% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 46,225 shares of company stock valued at $27,363,392 in the last quarter. 9.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.