Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) has been given an average recommendation of “Buy” by the six research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $64.33.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SUN. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 12.3% in the first quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 23,132,625 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,343,080,000 after buying an additional 2,529,170 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 908,833.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 436,288 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $23,419,000 after buying an additional 436,240 shares during the period. ING Groep NV boosted its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 223.7% in the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 513,715 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $26,426,000 after buying an additional 355,000 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sunoco in the fourth quarter worth about $17,739,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 3.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,165,717 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $532,162,000 after buying an additional 296,791 shares during the period. 24.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sunoco Stock Performance

Shares of SUN opened at $57.42 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $56.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a PE ratio of 8.70 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. Sunoco has a 52-week low of $48.00 and a 52-week high of $59.88.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The oil and gas company reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($0.48). The company had revenue of $5.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Sunoco had a net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 22.52%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.26 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sunoco will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be issued a $0.8976 dividend. This represents a $3.59 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.25%. This is a boost from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.68%.

Sunoco Company Profile

Sunoco LP, together with its subsidiaries, distributes and retails motor fuels in the United States. It operates through two segments: Fuel Distribution and Marketing, and All Other. The Fuel Distribution and Marketing segment purchases motor fuel, as well as other petroleum products, such as propane and lubricating oil from independent refiners and oil companies and supplies it to company-operated retail stores, independently operated commission agents, and retail stores, as well as other commercial customers, including unbranded retail stores, other fuel distributors, school districts, municipalities, and other industrial customers.