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

Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 28,315 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 2,998% compared to the average daily volume of 914 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Suncor Energy by 54.9% during the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 635 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Suncor Energy by 64.1% during the 3rd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 704 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Suncor Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. 1 North Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Suncor Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Hanson & Doremus Investment Management raised its holdings in Suncor Energy by 143.5% in the 3rd quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 789 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.37% of the company’s stock.

Suncor Energy Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of SU stock opened at $61.97 on Thursday. Suncor Energy has a twelve month low of $30.79 and a twelve month high of $63.96. The stock has a market cap of $73.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.86 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $54.25 and a 200 day moving average of $46.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $8.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.79 billion. Suncor Energy had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.99%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Suncor Energy will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Suncor Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Suncor Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 50.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SU shares. Zacks Research cut Suncor Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Suncor Energy from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Suncor Energy from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Suncor Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Suncor Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Suncor Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.67.

Suncor Energy Company Profile

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.