Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $64.33.

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Sunoco from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SUN. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sunoco by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 23,132,625 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,343,080,000 after buying an additional 2,529,170 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 3.3% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,165,717 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $532,162,000 after acquiring an additional 296,791 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Sunoco by 14.2% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,978,209 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $172,915,000 after purchasing an additional 369,508 shares during the last quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC boosted its position in Sunoco by 2.6% during the first quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 1,810,296 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $105,106,000 after purchasing an additional 45,935 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Sunoco by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 888,862 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $45,723,000 after purchasing an additional 24,686 shares in the last quarter. 24.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sunoco Stock Performance

SUN opened at $55.89 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $8.53 billion, a PE ratio of 8.47 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.36. Sunoco has a fifty-two week low of $48.00 and a fifty-two week high of $59.88.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The oil and gas company reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($0.48). Sunoco had a return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 3.85%. The company had revenue of $5.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Sunoco will post 10.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th were issued a $0.8976 dividend. This is an increase from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $3.59 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.42%. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.68%.

About Sunoco

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.