SummitTX Capital L.P. Acquires New Stake in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

SummitTX Capital L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 3,958 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,955,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUSA. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Murphy USA during the 4th quarter worth $6,874,000. Evergreen Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the fourth quarter valued at $1,333,000. Millennium Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy USA in the fourth quarter valued at $1,029,000. VELA Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Murphy USA by 45.4% in the fourth quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 9,765 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,940,000 after purchasing an additional 3,051 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in Murphy USA by 21,756.4% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 41,090 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $16,581,000 after purchasing an additional 40,902 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Trading Down 1.5%

MUSA stock opened at $600.98 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $11.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.77, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $568.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $502.09. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52 week low of $345.23 and a 52 week high of $636.04.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $4.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.58 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 issued a $0.64 dividend. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Keith A. Emery sold 517 shares of Murphy USA 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $287,245. The trade was a 50.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Scott G. Woodward sold 158 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.50, for a total value of $94,879.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $285,838. The trade was a 24.92% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 46,225 shares of company stock worth $27,363,392. Corporate insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Murphy USA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $380.00 to $550.00 in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Murphy USA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $550.00 to $625.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $585.11.

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.