Insider Selling: Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Director Sells 797 Shares of Stock

Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA - Get Free Report) Director Rosemary Turner sold 797 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.10, for a total value of $395,391.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Murphy USA Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of MUSA stock traded down $3.63 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $483.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 50,309 shares, compared to its average volume of 206,247. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $502.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $506.16. Murphy USA Inc. has a 52 week low of $382.04 and a 52 week high of $561.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $9.79 billion, a PE ratio of 19.97 and a beta of 0.79.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The specialty retailer reported $6.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.46 by $0.50. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 61.60% and a net margin of 2.48%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Murphy USA Inc. will post 26.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be paid a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 24th. This is an increase from Murphy USA's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Murphy USA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.93%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MUSA. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Murphy USA from $555.00 to $550.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered Murphy USA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Murphy USA from $550.00 to $554.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Murphy USA presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $510.80.

Institutional Trading of Murphy USA

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,864,405 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $935,465,000 after buying an additional 54,658 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,783,849 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $895,046,000 after purchasing an additional 32,643 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 590,558 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $291,068,000 after purchasing an additional 8,507 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 470,602 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $236,125,000 after purchasing an additional 18,097 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Murphy USA by 69.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 428,379 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $211,135,000 after purchasing an additional 176,308 shares during the last quarter. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Murphy USA

Murphy USA Inc engages in marketing of retail motor fuel products and convenience merchandise. The company operates retail stores under the Murphy USA, Murphy Express, and QuickChek brands, as well as operates non-fuel convenience stores. It operates retail gasoline stores principally in the Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest United States.