Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Suncor Energy Put Options (NYSE:SU)

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

Institutional Trading of Suncor Energy

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Suncor Energy by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,631,516 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,046,442,000 after buying an additional 1,632,247 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Suncor Energy by 0.4% in the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 33,868,775 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,417,029,000 after acquiring an additional 145,800 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox grew its stake in shares of Suncor Energy by 0.3% in the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 27,471,954 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,148,602,000 after acquiring an additional 70,300 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Suncor Energy by 3.2% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 20,911,602 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $779,788,000 after acquiring an additional 641,354 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Suncor Energy by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 18,854,921 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $789,213,000 after purchasing an additional 106,765 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on SU. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Suncor Energy in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Raymond James Financial raised Suncor Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of Suncor Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Suncor Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Suncor Energy in a research note on Friday, October 17th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Suncor Energy has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.67.

Suncor Energy Price Performance

Shares of Suncor Energy stock opened at $50.50 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Suncor Energy has a 1-year low of $30.79 and a 1-year high of $50.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.56 and a beta of 0.46.

Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $9.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.82 billion. Suncor Energy had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 13.01%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.48 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Suncor Energy will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Suncor Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were given a $0.60 dividend. This is an increase from Suncor Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 3rd. Suncor Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.39%.

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.