Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys Shares of 4,900 Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 4,900 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,420,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,874,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Murphy USA by 14.9% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 22,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $8,775,000 after acquiring an additional 2,939 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Murphy USA by 6.0% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 63,638 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $24,708,000 after acquiring an additional 3,614 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy USA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,029,000. Finally, Evergreen Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Murphy USA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,333,000. 80.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MUSA shares. Wall Street Zen raised Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective 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. Zacks Research downgraded Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. KeyCorp upped their target price on Murphy USA from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Murphy USA from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $539.50.

Murphy USA Price Performance

Shares of MUSA opened at $534.70 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $550.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $474.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $9.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.30. Murphy USA Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $345.23 and a fifty-two week high of $636.04.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $4.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.70 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 91.05% and a net margin of 2.81%.Murphy USA’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.63 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.3 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. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 41,500 shares of Murphy USA 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 sale, the director owned 342,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,286,875.52. This trade represents a 10.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Scott G. Woodward sold 158 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $285,838. This represents a 24.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 46,225 shares of company stock valued at $27,363,392. 9.02% of the stock is owned by 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.