TMB Capital Partners LLC Invests $556,000 in Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

TMB Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,377 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $556,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MUSA. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in Murphy USA by 82.4% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in Murphy USA in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. 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 during the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in Murphy USA in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. 80.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Scott G. Woodward sold 158 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.50, for a total value of $94,879.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 476 shares in the company, valued at approximately $285,838. The trade was a 24.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Keith A. Emery sold 517 shares of Murphy USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $287,245. This represents a 50.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 46,225 shares of company stock worth $27,363,392 in the last 90 days. 9.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MUSA. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Bank of America raised shares of Murphy USA from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $350.00 to $550.00 in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Murphy USA from $450.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings lowered Murphy USA from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Murphy USA from $510.00 to $517.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $515.14.

Murphy USA Price Performance

NYSE MUSA opened at $550.85 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $10.17 billion, a PE ratio of 19.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.30. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52 week low of $345.23 and a 52 week 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $544.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $467.28.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.37 by $1.91. The firm had revenue of $4.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.70 billion. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.81% and a return on equity of 91.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.63 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a $0.64 dividend. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Murphy USA’s payout ratio is 8.85%.

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.