Semanteon Capital Management LP Invests $565,000 in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Semanteon Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,456 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $565,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Murphy USA by 423.1% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 317.6% in the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 71 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 1,925.0% in the second quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 81 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Murphy USA by 251.6% during the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 109 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Murphy USA in the 2nd quarter worth $67,000. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

Shares of MUSA stock opened at $389.93 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.80. Murphy USA Inc. has a one year low of $345.23 and a one year high of $523.09. The company’s 50-day moving average is $413.53 and its 200 day moving average is $392.43.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The specialty retailer reported $7.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $0.86. The business had revenue of $4.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.88 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.43% and a return on equity of 75.75%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $6.96 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 23rd will be paid a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is currently 10.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Murphy USA news, SVP Eric J. Bartko sold 345 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $404.84, for a total transaction of $139,669.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 352 shares in the company, valued at $142,503.68. The trade was a 49.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $386.09, for a total value of $470,643.71. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 5,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,288,355.43. This trade represents a 17.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,935 shares of company stock worth $4,248,945. 9.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MUSA. KeyCorp set a $500.00 target price on Murphy USA in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Murphy USA from $410.00 to $400.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Murphy USA in a report on Friday, January 9th. They set an “underperform” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Stephens lowered their target price on Murphy USA from $475.00 to $450.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Murphy USA has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $457.50.

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.