Blackstone Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN)

Blackstone Inc. cut its holdings in Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,349,652 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 79,658 shares during the quarter. Blackstone Inc.’s holdings in Sunoco were worth $69,426,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SUN. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Sunoco by 908,833.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 436,288 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $23,419,000 after acquiring an additional 436,240 shares during the period. ING Groep NV raised its stake in shares of Sunoco by 223.7% in the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 513,715 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $26,426,000 after purchasing an additional 355,000 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sunoco during the fourth quarter worth about $17,739,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in Sunoco by 32,166.5% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 231,351 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $12,137,000 after buying an additional 230,634 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Sunoco by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,868,926 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $456,218,000 after buying an additional 198,859 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on SUN. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Sunoco from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Sunoco from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.33.

Sunoco Stock Performance

SUN opened at $57.92 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $56.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.02. Sunoco LP has a 1 year low of $48.00 and a 1 year high of $59.88. The stock has a market cap of $8.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.78 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The oil and gas company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.73). Sunoco had a return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 3.85%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sunoco LP will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a dividend of $0.8976 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $3.59 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.20%. This is an increase from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.39%.

Sunoco Profile

Sunoco LP, together with its subsidiaries, distributes and retails motor fuels in the United States. It operates through two segments: Fuel Distribution and Marketing, and All Other. The Fuel Distribution and Marketing segment purchases motor fuel, as well as other petroleum products, such as propane and lubricating oil from independent refiners and oil companies and supplies it to company-operated retail stores, independently operated commission agents, and retail stores, as well as other commercial customers, including unbranded retail stores, other fuel distributors, school districts, municipalities, and other industrial customers.