Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Sunoco in a report on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Sunoco from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Sunoco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. 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 note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $65.00 target price on Sunoco and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.00.

Sunoco Stock Up 1.5%

SUN stock opened at $57.76 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.33, a current ratio of 3.11 and a quick ratio of 2.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.71 and a beta of 0.51. Sunoco has a fifty-two week low of $47.98 and a fifty-two week high of $59.88. The business has a 50-day moving average of $55.01 and a 200-day moving average of $53.07.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by ($0.90). Sunoco had a net margin of 2.61% and a return on equity of 13.94%. The firm had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.26) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sunoco will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Sunoco

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SUN. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Sunoco in the 3rd quarter valued at about $644,000. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 valued at $11,424,000 after purchasing an additional 84,000 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Sunoco by 470.0% during the second quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 113,263 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,070,000 after purchasing an additional 93,394 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $35,920,000 after purchasing an additional 25,757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lee Financial Co boosted its stake in Sunoco by 573.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 21,886 shares during the period. 24.29% of the stock is 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.