Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Shares Up 4.7%

Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN)’s stock price rose 4.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $53.90 and last traded at $53.53. Approximately 524,081 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 14% from the average daily volume of 461,702 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.13.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SUN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on Sunoco from $57.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Sunoco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $62.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. StockNews.com downgraded Sunoco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Sunoco from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on Sunoco from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.71.

Sunoco Stock Up 5.6 %

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.05 and a beta of 1.27.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The oil and gas company reported ($1.50) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($2.46). Sunoco had a net margin of 1.71% and a return on equity of 37.91%. The firm had revenue of $5.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Sunoco LP will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Sunoco Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 7th were paid a $0.842 dividend. This represents a $3.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 6th. Sunoco’s payout ratio is 92.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Sunoco during the 1st quarter worth $55,000. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in Sunoco by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 10,684 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $644,000 after acquiring an additional 671 shares during the period. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Sunoco during the 1st quarter worth about $682,000. F&V Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Sunoco by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. F&V Capital Management LLC now owns 8,250 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $497,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the period. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY grew its holdings in Sunoco by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 437,171 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $26,357,000 after acquiring an additional 17,757 shares during the period. 24.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.