Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 285,250 Shares of Suncor Energy Inc. $SU

Franklin Resources Inc. cut its holdings in Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,751,721 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 285,250 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Suncor Energy were worth $210,880,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Suncor Energy by 54.9% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 635 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Suncor Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Suncor Energy by 95.8% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 793 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Suncor Energy by 37.5% in the fourth quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 825 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maseco LLP bought a new position in shares of Suncor Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 67.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SU has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Suncor Energy from $75.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Weiss Ratings downgraded Suncor Energy from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. ATB Cormark Capital Markets upgraded Suncor Energy from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Zacks Research downgraded Suncor Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Suncor Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.67.

Suncor Energy Price Performance

Suncor Energy stock opened at $61.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $72.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.05 and a beta of 0.27. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.08. Suncor Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.13 and a 12 month high of $70.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.45 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $10.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. Suncor Energy had a return on equity of 13.96% and a net margin of 12.29%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Suncor Energy Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Suncor Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Suncor Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.67%.

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.