Suncor Energy Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:SU)

Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 28,315 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 2,998% compared to the typical volume of 914 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SU. Sanders Capital LLC increased its stake in Suncor Energy by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 57,318,037 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,836,470,000 after acquiring an additional 1,568,629 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Suncor Energy by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,534,957 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,619,140,000 after acquiring an additional 155,343 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Suncor Energy by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 32,070,496 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,032,453,000 after acquiring an additional 4,612,764 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Suncor Energy by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 22,384,816 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $717,210,000 after acquiring an additional 1,725,969 shares during the period. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in Suncor Energy by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 20,530,994 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $657,772,000 after acquiring an additional 182,289 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on SU shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Suncor Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Suncor Energy from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Suncor Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.00.

Suncor Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:SU opened at $37.90 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $35.50 and its 200-day moving average is $33.61. Suncor Energy has a 52-week low of $27.59 and a 52-week high of $39.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.44. The company has a market cap of $48.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.06, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.13.

Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.13. Suncor Energy had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 16.08%. The company had revenue of $10.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.33 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Suncor Energy will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Suncor Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.406 per share. This is an increase from Suncor Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.29%. Suncor Energy’s payout ratio is presently 34.26%.

About Suncor Energy

Suncor Energy Inc operates as an integrated energy company in Canada, the United States, and internationally. It operates through Oil Sands; Exploration and Production; and Refining and Marketing segments. The Oil Sands segment explores, develops, and produces bitumen, synthetic crude oil, and related products.