Royal Bank Of Canada Issues Positive Forecast for Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Stock Price

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) had its price target increased by Royal Bank Of Canada from $64.00 to $76.00 in a research report report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the oil and gas company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Sunoco in a research note on Friday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Sunoco from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Sunoco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Sunoco from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Sunoco from $66.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.29.

Sunoco Stock Performance

NYSE SUN traded down $1.31 on Friday, reaching $68.34. The stock had a trading volume of 660,640 shares, compared to its average volume of 315,434. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $64.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.33. Sunoco has a 1-year low of $47.98 and a 1-year high of $70.00. The company has a market cap of $14.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.11 and a beta of 0.46.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by ($1.55). The firm had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.65 billion. Sunoco had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 2.01%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 63.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Sunoco will post 7.83 EPS for the current year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be given a $0.9899 dividend. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 8th. This is a boost from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 164.32%.

Institutional Trading of Sunoco

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Sunoco by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 24,856,265 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,302,717,000 after acquiring an additional 766,781 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in Sunoco by 13.3% during the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 3,179,502 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $159,007,000 after purchasing an additional 374,396 shares during the last quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 1,916,858 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $95,862,000 after purchasing an additional 32,866 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 60.5% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,639,420 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $85,922,000 after purchasing an additional 617,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Sunoco by 266.6% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,626,278 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $85,233,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182,662 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.29% of the company’s stock.

About Sunoco

Sunoco LP (NYSE: SUN) is an independent master limited partnership that specializes in the distribution and marketing of transportation fuels and related products. The company operates through two primary segments: wholesale fuel distribution and retail marketing. In wholesale distribution, Sunoco supplies branded fuels to distributors, commercial customers and resellers across the United States. Its retail marketing arm operates a network of company?owned and franchised Sunoco branded service stations and convenience stores, providing gasoline, diesel, ethanol blends and lubricants to consumers.

Sunoco’s product portfolio extends beyond traditional fuels to include biofuels, specialty chemicals and on?road diesel treated to meet ultra?low sulfur requirements.