Diane Landen Sells 3,000 Shares of Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) Stock

Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Director Diane Landen sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $547.25, for a total value of $1,641,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 53,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,464,487.25. This trade represents a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

Shares of MUSA stock opened at $612.30 on Thursday. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12-month low of $345.23 and a 12-month high of $614.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.30. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $534.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $458.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.37 by $1.91. The business had revenue of $4.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.70 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 91.05% and a net margin of 2.81%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.63 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.32 EPS for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a dividend of $0.64 per share. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is 8.85%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Murphy USA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MUSA. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in shares of Murphy USA by 82.4% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 106.7% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy USA during the third quarter worth $26,000. AlphaQuest LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 317.6% during the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 71 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 423.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. KeyCorp increased their price target on Murphy USA from $560.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Bank of America raised Murphy USA from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $350.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Murphy USA in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $539.00 price target for the company. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.71.

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.