Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $65.00.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company set a $65.00 target price on Sunoco and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Sunoco from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Raymond James Financial raised Sunoco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, January 5th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of Sunoco in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Sunoco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 1st.

Sunoco Stock Performance

NYSE SUN opened at $57.48 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $11.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.62 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.68. Sunoco has a twelve month low of $47.98 and a twelve month high of $59.88. The company has a quick ratio of 2.50, a current ratio of 3.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.33.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by ($0.90). Sunoco had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 2.61%.The business had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.26) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Sunoco will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 30th were paid a dividend of $0.9202 per share. This is a positive change from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 30th. Sunoco’s payout ratio is currently 125.60%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SUN. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Sunoco by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 159,128 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $9,239,000 after acquiring an additional 9,592 shares during the last quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Sunoco by 4.7% in the second quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 144,429 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $7,740,000 after purchasing an additional 6,429 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 10.6% during the second quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 19,200 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Sunoco by 681.1% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 41,101 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,262,000 after buying an additional 35,839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its stake in shares of Sunoco by 0.6% in the second quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 691,096 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $37,036,000 after buying an additional 3,852 shares in the last quarter. 24.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.