Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $70.2857.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SUN. Wall Street Zen lowered Sunoco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Raymond James Financial raised Sunoco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered Sunoco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Sunoco from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Barclays set a $63.00 target price on Sunoco in a report on Friday, February 20th.

Sunoco Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of SUN opened at $68.34 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $64.83 and a 200 day moving average of $58.38. Sunoco has a fifty-two week low of $47.98 and a fifty-two week high of $70.00. The firm has a market cap of $14.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.11 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.38.

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

Sunoco Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SUN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Sunoco by 266.6% during 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 buying an additional 1,182,662 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Sunoco by 3.2% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 766,781 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Sunoco by 60.5% during 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 buying an additional 617,700 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Sunoco by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 3,179,502 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $159,007,000 after buying an additional 374,396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in Sunoco by 1,562.3% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 217,855 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $11,418,000 after buying an additional 204,749 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.