Suncor Energy Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:SU)

Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 28,315 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 2,998% compared to the average daily volume of 914 put options.

Institutional Trading of Suncor Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Suncor Energy by 54.9% during the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 635 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Suncor Energy by 64.1% during the 3rd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 704 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. 1 North Wealth Services LLC acquired a new stake in Suncor Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Suncor Energy by 95.8% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 793 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Suncor Energy in the first quarter worth approximately $53,000. 67.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Suncor Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Suncor Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $46.15 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Suncor Energy from $75.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Suncor Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Suncor Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.00.

Suncor Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Suncor Energy stock opened at $66.80 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $78.87 billion, a PE ratio of 17.53 and a beta of 0.31. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.42. Suncor Energy has a 1 year low of $34.67 and a 1 year high of $70.29.

Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by ($0.04). Suncor Energy had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 13.96%. The company had revenue of $10.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Suncor Energy will post 6.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Suncor Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. Suncor Energy’s payout ratio is presently 46.19%.

About Suncor Energy

Suncor Energy Inc is a Canadian integrated energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. The company’s operations span the full oil and gas value chain, with principal activities in oil sands development and production, conventional exploration and production, refining, distribution and retail marketing of petroleum products. Suncor supplies crude, synthetic crude and refined fuels as well as related products and services to commercial and consumer markets.

Upstream, Suncor is a major developer and operator of oil sands projects in Alberta, using both mining and in situ technologies to produce bitumen and synthetic crude.