Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Sets New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $70.00 and last traded at $69.98, with a volume of 396372 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.30.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SUN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays set a $63.00 target price on Sunoco in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $66.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Sunoco from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Sunoco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sunoco presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.88.

Sunoco Stock Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The company has a market capitalization of $14.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.90 and a beta of 0.46.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas company reported $2.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $1.14. Sunoco had a return on equity of 17.52% and a net margin of 3.07%.The business had revenue of $10.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.21 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 106.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sunoco LP will post 7.92 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, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be paid a $0.9899 dividend. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.7%. This is a boost from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 8th. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 101.28%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Sunoco in the third quarter worth $644,000. Lee Financial Co lifted its position in shares of Sunoco by 573.1% in the third quarter. Lee Financial Co now owns 25,705 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,286,000 after buying an additional 21,886 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Sunoco in the third quarter worth about $1,161,000. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Sunoco by 33.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 593,970 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $29,704,000 after acquiring an additional 149,732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sunoco by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 24,089,484 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,204,715,000 after acquiring an additional 599,655 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.29% of the company’s stock.

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.