Short Interest in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) Drops By 16.0%

Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) was the target of a large drop in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,100,000 shares, a drop of 16.0% from the May 15th total of 1,310,000 shares. Currently, 5.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 226,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.8 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Murphy USA

In other Murphy USA news, Director Rosemary Turner sold 205 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total transaction of $82,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Rosemary Turner sold 205 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total transaction of $82,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO R Andrew Clyde sold 10,392 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $440.32, for a total value of $4,575,805.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 199,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,871,580.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,451 shares of company stock valued at $5,032,498 in the last three months. 9.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Murphy USA

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 777.8% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 79 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 10.8% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 2,952 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,229,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 28.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,546 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,906,000 after buying an additional 1,005 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 24.3% during the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,617 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $678,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Murphy USA by 0.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 245,220 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $102,797,000 after buying an additional 1,519 shares during the period. 80.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Murphy USA Trading Down 1.6 %

MUSA traded down $7.80 during trading on Friday, reaching $470.72. The company had a trading volume of 152,833 shares, compared to its average volume of 188,497. The stock has a market cap of $9.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.75 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $429.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $400.29. Murphy USA has a 52 week low of $282.49 and a 52 week high of $488.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.28.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The specialty retailer reported $3.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.97). Murphy USA had a return on equity of 64.45% and a net margin of 2.43%. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Murphy USA will post 24.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.37%. This is an increase from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MUSA shares. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Murphy USA in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Murphy USA from $440.00 to $460.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $408.60.

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.