Insider Selling: Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) Director Sells 3,000 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Murphy USA director Diane Landen sold 3,000 shares on June 5 at an average price of $547.25, totaling about $1.64 million. After the transaction, she still owned 53,841 shares, a 5.28% reduction in her stake.
• The stock was trading higher at $556.64 in Tuesday trading, near its 52-week high of $609.82 and well above its 200-day moving average of $455.67. Murphy USA has a market cap of about $10.28 billion.
• Recent fundamentals and analyst sentiment remain positive: the company beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, raised its dividend to $0.64 per share, and analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $503.71.

Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA - Get Free Report) Director Diane Landen sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $547.25, for a total transaction of $1,641,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 53,841 shares in the company, valued at $29,464,487.25. This represents a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Murphy USA Price Performance

Shares of MUSA stock traded up $10.45 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $556.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 289,139 shares, compared to its average volume of 343,580. The business has a fifty day moving average of $531.54 and a 200-day moving average of $455.67. The stock has a market cap of $10.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.30. Murphy USA Inc. has a twelve month low of $345.23 and a twelve month high of $609.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty retailer reported $7.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.37 by $1.91. The business had revenue of $4.82 billion for 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $2.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy USA Inc. will post 32.32 EPS for the current year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were given a $0.64 dividend. This is a boost from Murphy USA's previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. Murphy USA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.85%.

Institutional Trading of Murphy USA

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Murphy USA by 149.9% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 507,418 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $204,753,000 after acquiring an additional 304,354 shares during the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 7,973 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Murphy USA by 318.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 424,818 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $164,940,000 after acquiring an additional 323,331 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Murphy USA by 45.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 318,473 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $128,511,000 after acquiring an additional 99,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Murphy USA by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 300,758 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $121,365,000 after acquiring an additional 1,930 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.81% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on MUSA shares. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $560.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Murphy USA in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $539.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Murphy USA from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 30th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Murphy USA from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Murphy USA currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $503.71.

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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