Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) CMO Sells $939,160.00 in Stock

Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) CMO Renee M. Bacon sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.58, for a total value of $939,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 5,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,783,200.66. This trade represents a 25.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Murphy USA Trading Down 3.9 %

Murphy USA stock opened at $447.95 on Friday. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1 year low of $382.04 and a 1 year high of $561.08. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $486.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $502.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $8.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.51 and a beta of 0.79.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The specialty retailer reported $6.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.46 by $0.50. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.48% and a return on equity of 61.60%. On average, equities analysts predict that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.10%.

Institutional Trading of Murphy USA

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUSA. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Murphy USA during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $112,741,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Murphy USA by 69.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 428,379 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $211,135,000 after buying an additional 176,308 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,387,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Murphy USA in the fourth quarter worth about $53,777,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in Murphy USA by 6.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,751,206 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $863,116,000 after acquiring an additional 99,253 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Murphy USA from $555.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $550.00 to $554.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $510.80.

Murphy USA Company Profile

Murphy USA Inc engages in marketing of retail motor fuel products and convenience merchandise. The company operates retail stores under the Murphy USA, Murphy Express, and QuickChek brands, as well as operates non-fuel convenience stores. It operates retail gasoline stores principally in the Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest United States.