Investors Purchase Large Volume of Suncor Energy Put Options (NYSE:SU)

Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 28,315 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 2,998% compared to the typical volume of 914 put options.

Institutional Trading of Suncor Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Evolve Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Suncor Energy by 35.1% in the first quarter. Evolve Private Wealth LLC now owns 29,809 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,971,000 after purchasing an additional 7,744 shares in the last quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Suncor Energy by 2.6% in the first quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,636 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $769,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Purpose Unlimited Inc. bought a new position in shares of Suncor Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,997,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Suncor Energy by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 217,454 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $9,646,000 after acquiring an additional 3,442 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors increased its stake in shares of Suncor Energy by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 28,830 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,279,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on SU shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Suncor Energy from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. ATB Cormark Capital Markets raised Suncor Energy from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Suncor Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $46.15 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Suncor Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Suncor Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $72.00.

Suncor Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SU stock opened at $63.81 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market cap of $75.74 billion, a PE ratio of 18.39 and a beta of 0.32. Suncor Energy has a 12 month low of $33.50 and a 12 month high of $67.76.

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

Suncor Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. Suncor Energy’s payout ratio is currently 50.43%.

About Suncor Energy

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.