Sunoco LP $SUN Shares Sold by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its stake in shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) by 28.2% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 40,503 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 15,915 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Sunoco were worth $2,631,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SUN. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Sunoco by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 159,128 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $9,239,000 after buying an additional 9,592 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sunoco by 10.9% in the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 12,174 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $652,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Sunoco by 226.2% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 7,088 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $380,000 after acquiring an additional 4,915 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sunoco by 5.5% in the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 365,953 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $19,611,000 after acquiring an additional 18,990 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sunoco by 8.1% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 37,488 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,996,000 after acquiring an additional 2,810 shares during the last quarter. 24.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sunoco Price Performance

SUN stock opened at $70.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.46 billion, a PE ratio of 15.62 and a beta of 0.41. Sunoco LP has a 1 year low of $47.98 and a 1 year high of $78.11.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.50 by ($1.56). Sunoco had a net margin of 2.88% and a return on equity of 19.62%. The company had revenue of $14.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.33 EPS. Sunoco’s revenue for the quarter was up 164.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sunoco LP will post 11.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be paid a $1.0023 dividend. This is a boost from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. This represents a $4.01 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.7%. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio is 87.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SUN has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Sunoco from $73.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered Sunoco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Sunoco in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Sunoco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Sunoco from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sunoco has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $79.00.

Sunoco Profile

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.