Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) have earned an average rating of “Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $74.75.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sunoco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Sunoco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Sunoco to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Sunoco in a report on Wednesday, May 6th.

Institutional Trading of Sunoco

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SUN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Sunoco by 266.6% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,626,278 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $85,233,000 after buying an additional 1,182,662 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Sunoco by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 24,856,265 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,302,717,000 after purchasing an additional 766,781 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Sunoco by 60.5% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,639,420 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $85,922,000 after purchasing an additional 617,700 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Sunoco by 13.3% in the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 3,179,502 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $159,007,000 after purchasing an additional 374,396 shares during the period. Finally, Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Sunoco by 51.5% during the first quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,027,877 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $66,781,000 after purchasing an additional 349,254 shares during the last quarter. 24.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sunoco Stock Performance

Sunoco stock opened at $72.36 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $67.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.82 billion, a PE ratio of 18.51 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.40. Sunoco has a one year low of $47.98 and a one year high of $72.88.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas company reported $2.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $1.14. The company had revenue of $10.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.19 billion. Sunoco had a net margin of 3.07% and a return on equity of 17.52%. Sunoco’s revenue for the quarter was up 106.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sunoco will post 7.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.9899 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. This is an increase from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.5%. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio is 101.28%.

About Sunoco

Sunoco LP (NYSE: SUN) is an independent master limited partnership that specializes in the distribution and marketing of transportation fuels and related products. The company operates through two primary segments: wholesale fuel distribution and retail marketing. In wholesale distribution, Sunoco supplies branded fuels to distributors, commercial customers and resellers across the United States. Its retail marketing arm operates a network of company‐owned and franchised Sunoco branded service stations and convenience stores, providing gasoline, diesel, ethanol blends and lubricants to consumers.

Sunoco’s product portfolio extends beyond traditional fuels to include biofuels, specialty chemicals and on‐road diesel treated to meet ultra‐low sulfur requirements.