M&T Bank Corp Increases Stock Holdings in Sunoco LP $SUN

M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) by 1,562.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 217,855 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 204,749 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Sunoco were worth $11,418,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sunoco during the 3rd quarter valued at about $644,000. Lee Financial Co raised its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 573.1% during the 3rd quarter. Lee Financial Co now owns 25,705 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,286,000 after buying an additional 21,886 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Sunoco during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,161,000. Barclays PLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $29,704,000 after buying an additional 149,732 shares during the period. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $1,204,715,000 after buying an additional 599,655 shares during the period. 24.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SUN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded Sunoco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Zacks Research upgraded Sunoco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Sunoco from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Barclays set a $63.00 price objective on Sunoco in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.83.

Sunoco Price Performance

SUN stock opened at $65.81 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. Sunoco LP has a 52-week low of $47.98 and a 52-week high of $67.82. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $64.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.83. The company has a market capitalization of $13.48 billion, a PE ratio of 28.99 and a beta of 0.48.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.64 by ($1.55). Sunoco had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 2.01%.The business had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. Sunoco’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Sunoco LP will post 7.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.9899 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 8th. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.0%. This is a boost from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 174.45%.

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.