Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Shares of Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $61.78 and last traded at $61.3260, with a volume of 5423520 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $60.62.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Suncor Energy from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Zacks Research downgraded Suncor Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Suncor Energy from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Suncor Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $46.15 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Suncor Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Suncor Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.67.

Suncor Energy Stock Up 1.2%

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.39. The firm has a market cap of $72.97 billion, a PE ratio of 17.67 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.02. Suncor Energy had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.99%.The firm had revenue of $8.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Suncor Energy Inc. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Suncor Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 4th. Suncor Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 50.72%.

Institutional Trading of Suncor Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its stake in Suncor Energy by 38.5% in the 2nd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 33,722,975 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,264,043,000 after acquiring an additional 9,378,552 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Suncor Energy by 85.5% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 15,530,965 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $649,350,000 after acquiring an additional 7,158,953 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Suncor Energy by 7,636.8% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,016,483 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $267,042,000 after purchasing an additional 5,938,719 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Suncor Energy by 62.2% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 13,335,239 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $557,682,000 after purchasing an additional 5,113,280 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its stake in Suncor Energy by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 21,050,387 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $934,312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,592,516 shares in the last quarter. 67.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Suncor Energy Company Profile

Suncor Energy Inc is a Canadian integrated energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. The company’s operations span the full oil and gas value chain, with principal activities in oil sands development and production, conventional exploration and production, refining, distribution and retail marketing of petroleum products. Suncor supplies crude, synthetic crude and refined fuels as well as related products and services to commercial and consumer markets.

Upstream, Suncor is a major developer and operator of oil sands projects in Alberta, using both mining and in situ technologies to produce bitumen and synthetic crude.