GSA Capital Partners LLP Acquires New Stake in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 8,038 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $4,331,000. Murphy USA makes up about 0.3% of GSA Capital Partners LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in Murphy USA in the 4th quarter worth about $6,874,000. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Murphy USA by 23.2% during the 1st quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 146,119 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $71,986,000 after purchasing an additional 27,513 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Murphy USA during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,333,000. Millennium Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Murphy USA in the fourth quarter worth about $1,029,000. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $3,940,000 after buying an additional 3,051 shares during the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MUSA shares. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $619.00 price objective on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Murphy USA from $655.00 to $633.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $606.89.

Insider Activity at Murphy USA

In related news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.44, for a total transaction of $555,912.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 3,083 shares in the company, valued at $1,632,263.52. This represents a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Diane N. Landen sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $547.25, for a total transaction of $1,641,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 53,841 shares in the company, valued at $29,464,487.25. This represents a 5.28% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 9.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Murphy USA Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MUSA opened at $569.26 on Friday. Murphy USA Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $349.83 and a fifty-two week high of $636.04. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $578.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $514.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $10.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.28.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty retailer reported $11.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.95 by $1.32. The business had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.03 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.87% and a return on equity of 96.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 36.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $7.36 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 33.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 24th. This is a positive change from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.80%.

Murphy USA Company 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.