Sunoco’s (SUN) Hold (C) Rating Reiterated at Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings restated their hold (c) rating on shares of Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) in a report released on Friday morning,Weiss Ratings reports.

SUN has been the subject of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Sunoco from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Sunoco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.50.

Sunoco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SUN opened at $53.69 on Friday. Sunoco has a 12-month low of $47.98 and a 12-month high of $59.88. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $51.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.31. The firm has a market cap of $8.22 billion, a PE ratio of 26.45 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The oil and gas company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.68 by ($1.35). The company had revenue of $5.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. Sunoco had a net margin of 2.02% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.85 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Sunoco will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 30th will be given a $0.9202 dividend. This is a boost from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 30th. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 181.28%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sunoco

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SUN. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 23,132,625 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,343,080,000 after acquiring an additional 2,529,170 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Sunoco by 3.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,165,717 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $532,162,000 after purchasing an additional 296,791 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in Sunoco by 14.2% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,978,209 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $172,915,000 after purchasing an additional 369,508 shares during the last quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sunoco by 4.1% during the second quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 1,883,992 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $100,963,000 after purchasing an additional 73,696 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY grew its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 0.5% during the third quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 694,880 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $34,751,000 after purchasing an additional 3,784 shares during the last quarter. 24.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Sunoco

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.