Bank of New York Mellon Corp Has $73.63 Million Stock Holdings in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 3.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 149,064 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 4,836 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.81% of Murphy USA worth $73,633,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MUSA. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 149.9% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 507,418 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $204,753,000 after purchasing an additional 304,354 shares in the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Murphy USA by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 506,214 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $204,267,000 after purchasing an additional 7,973 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Murphy USA by 45.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 318,473 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $128,511,000 after purchasing an additional 99,798 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Murphy USA by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 300,758 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $121,365,000 after purchasing an additional 1,930 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in Murphy USA by 676.7% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 170,215 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $69,243,000 after purchasing an additional 148,301 shares during the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Murphy USA

In other news, SVP Scott G. Woodward sold 158 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were 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 directly owned 476 shares in the company, valued at $285,838. The trade was a 24.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Diane N. Landen sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director directly owned 53,841 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,464,487.25. The trade was a 5.28% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 46,225 shares of company stock valued at $27,363,392. Company insiders own 9.02% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of MUSA stock opened at $618.22 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.37, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.30. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $564.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $496.66. Murphy USA Inc. has a 1 year low of $345.23 and a 1 year high of $636.04. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.37 by $1.91. The company had revenue of $4.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.70 billion. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 91.05% and a net margin of 2.81%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.63 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $510.00 to $517.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Murphy USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $550.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Murphy USA in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $539.00 target price for the company. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on Murphy USA from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Six 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 price target of $585.11.

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.