Delta Global Management LP Acquires Shares of 6,090 Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Delta Global Management LP acquired a new stake in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 6,090 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,457,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MUSA. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 10.2% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $792,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 423.1% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Murphy USA in the second quarter valued at $603,000. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new position in Murphy USA in the second quarter valued at $596,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new position in Murphy USA in the second quarter valued at $227,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MUSA. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Murphy USA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. Bank of America raised shares of Murphy USA from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $350.00 to $550.00 in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $510.00 to $517.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Murphy USA in a report on Thursday, March 26th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $539.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $515.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Scott G. Woodward sold 158 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $285,838. This represents a 24.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert Madison Murphy sold 41,500 shares of the 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 transaction, the director directly owned 342,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,286,875.52. This represents a 10.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 46,225 shares of company stock valued at $27,363,392 over the last ninety days. 9.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Murphy USA Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MUSA opened at $585.48 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $541.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $463.49. Murphy USA Inc. has a one year low of $345.23 and a one year high of $636.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.24, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.30.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.37 by $1.91. The firm had revenue of $4.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.70 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.81% and a return on equity of 91.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.63 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.