Sunoco LP (SUN) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.88 on May 20th

Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 3rd, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of 0.876 per share by the oil and gas company on Monday, May 20th. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. This is a positive change from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84.

Sunoco has raised its dividend by an average of 0.5% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 1 years. Sunoco has a dividend payout ratio of 49.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Sunoco to earn $4.47 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.37 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 75.4%.

Sunoco Price Performance

SUN stock opened at $55.70 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.66. Sunoco has a 12 month low of $41.95 and a 12 month high of $64.89. The stock has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a PE ratio of 15.30 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $58.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.51.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The oil and gas company reported ($1.50) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($2.46). The company had revenue of $5.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. Sunoco had a return on equity of 37.91% and a net margin of 1.71%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sunoco will post 5.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Sunoco

In other news, Director David K. Skidmore bought 1,500 shares of Sunoco stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $52.10 per share, with a total value of $78,150.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 14,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $761,076.80. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James raised their price target on Sunoco from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Citigroup lowered Sunoco from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com lowered Sunoco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Sunoco from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.71.

About Sunoco

Sunoco LP, together with its subsidiaries, distributes and retails motor fuels in the United States. It operates through two segments: Fuel Distribution and Marketing, and All Other. The Fuel Distribution and Marketing segment purchases motor fuel, as well as other petroleum products, such as propane and lubricating oil from independent refiners and oil companies and supplies it to company-operated retail stores, independently operated commission agents, and retail stores, as well as other commercial customers, including unbranded retail stores, other fuel distributors, school districts, municipalities, and other industrial customers.