Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Upgraded to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company set a $65.00 price objective on Sunoco and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Sunoco in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Sunoco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Zacks Research raised Sunoco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Sunoco from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sunoco currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.00.

Sunoco Stock Down 2.6%

Sunoco stock opened at $57.51 on Friday. Sunoco has a twelve month low of $47.98 and a twelve month high of $59.88. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.00. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $11.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.63 and a beta of 0.49.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by ($0.90). The firm had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. Sunoco had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 2.61%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.26) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Sunoco will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 19th. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th will be issued a $0.9317 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 6th. This represents a $3.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.5%. This is an increase from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Sunoco’s payout ratio is currently 125.60%.

Institutional Trading of Sunoco

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Compass Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sunoco during the third quarter valued at about $644,000. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sunoco by 58.2% in the third quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 228,429 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $11,424,000 after acquiring an additional 84,000 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its holdings in Sunoco by 470.0% in the second quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 113,263 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $6,070,000 after purchasing an additional 93,394 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its stake in Sunoco by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 670,269 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $35,920,000 after purchasing an additional 25,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Midwest Trust Co acquired a new stake in Sunoco during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $407,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.