Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Cut to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms also recently commented on SUN. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Sunoco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Barclays set a $63.00 price objective on Sunoco in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings lowered Sunoco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Sunoco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Sunoco from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.17.

Sunoco Stock Up 2.1%

SUN opened at $64.40 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. Sunoco has a twelve month low of $47.98 and a twelve month high of $64.73. The company has a market cap of $13.19 billion, a PE ratio of 28.37 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $58.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.28.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by ($1.55). Sunoco had a net margin of 2.01% and a return on equity of 10.76%. The firm had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect 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 Thursday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 6th were issued a $0.9317 dividend. This is a positive change from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 6th. This represents a $3.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.8%. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 164.32%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Sunoco during the third quarter worth about $644,000. Lee Financial Co raised its stake in Sunoco by 573.1% during the third quarter. Lee Financial Co now owns 25,705 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,286,000 after buying an additional 21,886 shares in the last quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Sunoco by 58.2% during the third quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 228,429 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $11,424,000 after buying an additional 84,000 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. lifted its holdings in Sunoco by 470.0% during the 2nd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 113,263 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,070,000 after buying an additional 93,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Sunoco in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,161,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.29% of the company’s stock.

Sunoco Company Profile

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.