Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Rating Increased to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Sunoco from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Sunoco from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered Sunoco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Raymond James Financial upgraded Sunoco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Sunoco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.83.

Sunoco Stock Performance

Shares of SUN stock opened at $64.82 on Wednesday. Sunoco has a one year low of $47.98 and a one year high of $67.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.38. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $62.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.56 and a beta of 0.48.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by ($1.55). Sunoco had a net margin of 2.01% and a return on equity of 10.76%. The company had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Sunoco will post 10.65 EPS for the current year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th were issued a dividend of $0.9317 per share. This represents a $3.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 6th. This is a positive change from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 164.32%.

Institutional Trading of Sunoco

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SUN. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its position in Sunoco by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 24,856,265 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,302,717,000 after purchasing an additional 766,781 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Sunoco by 13.3% in the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 3,179,502 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $159,007,000 after buying an additional 374,396 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Sunoco by 1.7% in the third quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 1,916,858 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $95,862,000 after buying an additional 32,866 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Sunoco by 60.5% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,639,420 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $85,922,000 after buying an additional 617,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Sunoco by 266.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,626,278 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $85,233,000 after buying an additional 1,182,662 shares in the last quarter. 24.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.