Analysts Set Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) PT at $65.60

Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) has received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $65.60.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Sunoco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Sunoco from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Sunoco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Sunoco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $65.00 target price on shares of Sunoco and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th.

Sunoco Stock Up 1.0%

NYSE SUN opened at $59.50 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.11, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.33. The company has a market cap of $12.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.31 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50 day moving average of $55.56 and a 200-day moving average of $53.37. Sunoco has a 1-year low of $47.98 and a 1-year high of $60.62.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.9317 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 6th. This is a positive change from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $3.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.3%. Sunoco’s payout ratio is 127.30%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sunoco

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SUN. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new stake in Sunoco in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new position in Sunoco in the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Sunoco in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cresta Advisors Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Sunoco during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Sunoco by 41.7% during the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,360 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.29% of the company’s stock.

Sunoco Company Profile

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.