Hennessy Advisors Inc. Purchases New Position in Sunoco LP $SUN

Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 166,800 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,939,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SUN. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in Sunoco by 110.1% during the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,040 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $118,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in Sunoco by 17.1% during the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,865 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $166,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC bought a new position in Sunoco during the 1st quarter valued at about $199,000. Retirement Income Solutions Inc bought a new position in Sunoco during the 1st quarter valued at about $203,000. Finally, Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC bought a new position in Sunoco during the 1st quarter valued at about $204,000. 24.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Sunoco Trading Up 1.4%

SUN opened at $50.57 on Friday. Sunoco LP has a 1-year low of $47.98 and a 1-year high of $59.88. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $51.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.74 billion, a PE ratio of 24.91 and a beta of 0.53.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The oil and gas company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.68 by ($1.35). Sunoco had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 2.02%.The business had revenue of $5.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.85 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Sunoco LP will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a dividend of $0.9088 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.2%. This is a positive change from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 179.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SUN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Sunoco in a report on Saturday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.50.

Sunoco Company 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.