Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Buys 2,469 Shares of Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 23.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,122 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,469 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned 0.07% of Murphy USA worth $6,482,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MUSA. Kenora Financial LLC raised its holdings in Murphy USA by 3.3% in the first quarter. Kenora Financial LLC now owns 654 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Enhancing Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Enhancing Capital LLC now owns 1,132 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $457,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,752 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $707,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Murphy USA by 3.0% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 864 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in Murphy USA by 82.4% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised 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 report on Wednesday, July 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Murphy USA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $380.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings raised Murphy USA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Murphy USA from $510.00 to $517.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $579.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy USA

In other Murphy USA news, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 41,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $596.96, for a total transaction of $24,773,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 342,212 shares in the company, valued at $204,286,875.52. The trade was a 10.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Keith A. Emery sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.49, for a total transaction of $297,011.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 500 shares in the company, valued at $287,245. This trade represents a 50.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 46,225 shares of company stock worth $27,363,392. 9.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Murphy USA Trading Up 3.3%

Shares of MUSA stock opened at $618.94 on Friday. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12-month low of $345.23 and a 12-month high of $636.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $562.39 and its 200 day moving average is $491.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.30.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.37 by $1.91. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.81% and a return on equity of 91.05%. The business had revenue of $4.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.70 billion. The company’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 EPS. Research analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were given 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is 8.85%.

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.