Legal & General Group Plc Sells 7,655 Shares of Murphy USA Inc. $MUSA

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc cut its Murphy USA stake by 20.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 7,655 shares and leaving it with 30,074 shares valued at about $12.1 million.
• Murphy USA posted stronger-than-expected quarterly results, reporting EPS of $7.28 versus estimates of $5.37 on revenue of $4.82 billion, while revenue rose 6.5% year over year.
• The company also raised its dividend to $0.64 per share quarterly, up from $0.63, and analysts currently see the stock as a “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $503.71.

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its holdings in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA - Free Report) by 20.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,074 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 7,655 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.16% of Murphy USA worth $12,135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 82.4% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in Murphy USA during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 423.1% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 317.6% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 71 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in Murphy USA during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 80.81% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on MUSA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Murphy USA in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $539.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Murphy USA from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Monday. Zacks Research upgraded Murphy USA from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Murphy USA from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $503.71.

Murphy USA Trading Up 3.1%

MUSA stock opened at $542.38 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $527.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $451.81. Murphy USA Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $345.23 and a fifty-two week high of $609.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.30. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 91.05% and a net margin of 2.81%.The firm had revenue of $4.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.63 EPS. The business's revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 31.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. This is a positive change from Murphy USA's previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Murphy USA's payout ratio is 8.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Scott G. Woodward sold 158 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 476 shares of the company's stock, valued at $285,838. This trade represents a 24.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Renee M. Bacon sold 1,050 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.44, for a total value of $555,912.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 3,083 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,632,263.52. This represents a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 43,225 shares of company stock valued at $25,721,642. Company insiders own 9.02% of the company's stock.

Murphy USA Company 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.

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