Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on SUN. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Sunoco to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Mizuho set a $83.00 price target on shares of Sunoco in a report on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Sunoco from $73.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Sunoco in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sunoco currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.00.

Sunoco Price Performance

Shares of SUN stock opened at $71.95 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $14.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.92 and a beta of 0.41. Sunoco has a one year low of $47.98 and a one year high of $78.11.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.50 by ($1.56). The company had revenue of $14.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. Sunoco had a return on equity of 18.78% and a net margin of 2.88%.The business’s revenue was up 164.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Sunoco will post 11.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.0023 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 7th. This is a boost from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. This represents a $4.01 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 88.72%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Diversified Trust Co raised its position in shares of Sunoco by 3.0% during the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,827 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Sunoco by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,720 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $509,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Sunoco by 2.1% in the second quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,302 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $552,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC increased its position in Sunoco by 4.1% in the second quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 5,951 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the period. Finally, Glenmede Investment Management LP increased its position in Sunoco by 0.7% in the third quarter. Glenmede Investment Management LP now owns 39,088 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,955,000 after purchasing an additional 288 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.