Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Shares Cross Above 200-Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $70.73 and traded as high as $74.00. Sunoco shares last traded at $73.26, with a volume of 238,099 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SUN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Sunoco in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Sunoco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Sunoco from $77.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 target price on shares of Sunoco in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho set a $83.00 price objective on shares of Sunoco in a report on Friday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $79.38.

Sunoco Trading Up 1.0%

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.73. The firm has a market cap of $15.01 billion, a PE ratio of 16.21 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.29.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by ($1.56). Sunoco had a return on equity of 18.78% and a net margin of 2.88%. The company had revenue of $14.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.33 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 164.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sunoco LP will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th were issued a dividend of $1.0023 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $4.01 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.5%. This is an increase from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.9899. Sunoco’s payout ratio is 88.72%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Sunoco by 51.5% during the 1st quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,027,877 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $66,781,000 after buying an additional 349,254 shares during the period. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Sunoco by 34.1% during the first quarter. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC now owns 972,935 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $63,212,000 after buying an additional 247,569 shares during the period. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its stake in shares of Sunoco by 18.4% during the first quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 816,233 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $53,031,000 after buying an additional 126,964 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in Sunoco by 12.4% in the second quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 369,073 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $24,912,000 after acquiring an additional 40,758 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Sunoco by 32.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 204,609 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $13,293,000 after purchasing an additional 49,589 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.29% of the company’s stock.

Sunoco Company Profile

Sunoco LP is a publicly traded master limited partnership that distributes and markets motor fuel in the United States. The company supplies gasoline, diesel, and other refined products to independent dealers, commercial customers, distributors, and convenience-store operators. It also supports fuel sales through the Sunoco brand, which is licensed to retail locations operated by third parties.

In addition to fuel distribution, Sunoco owns and operates a network of refined-product terminals and pipelines used to receive, store, transport, and deliver motor fuels and other petroleum products.