Castleark Management LLC Takes Position in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Castleark Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 10,770 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $5,320,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Huntington National Bank lifted its holdings in Murphy USA by 106.7% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 423.1% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Murphy USA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Murphy USA by 82.5% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 73 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WPG Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Murphy USA by 148.5% in the 4th quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 82 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Murphy USA

In other news, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.44, for a total value of $555,912.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 3,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,632,263.52. The trade was a 25.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Scott G. Woodward sold 158 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.50, for a total transaction of $94,879.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 476 shares in the company, valued at approximately $285,838. The trade was a 24.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 46,225 shares of company stock worth $27,363,392 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

Murphy USA stock opened at $609.16 on Tuesday. Murphy USA Inc. has a twelve month low of $345.23 and a twelve month high of $636.04. 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 company has a market capitalization of $11.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.06, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $567.41 and its 200 day moving average is $500.86.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $4.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.63 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on MUSA. Wall Street Zen upgraded Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded 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. Weiss Ratings raised Murphy USA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $510.00 to $517.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $380.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.