Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $72.90 and last traded at $72.8190, with a volume of 52936 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $70.98.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on SUN. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sunoco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Zacks Research raised Sunoco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on Sunoco from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings raised Sunoco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Sunoco from $66.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sunoco currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $74.75.

Sunoco Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $67.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.67 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas company reported $2.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $1.14. The firm had revenue of $10.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.19 billion. Sunoco had a return on equity of 17.52% and a net margin of 3.07%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 106.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.21 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Sunoco LP will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were paid a $0.9899 dividend. This is a positive change from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.4%. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 101.28%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 766,781 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Sunoco by 1.7% in the third quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 1,916,858 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $95,862,000 after purchasing an additional 32,866 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Sunoco by 60.5% in the fourth 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Sunoco by 266.6% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Sunoco by 51.5% during the first quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,027,877 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $66,781,000 after purchasing an additional 349,254 shares during the period. 24.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.