Analysts Set Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU) Price Target at $72.00

Shares of Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) have been given an average rating of “Buy” by the eight brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $72.00.

SU has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Suncor Energy from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Suncor Energy in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Suncor Energy from $75.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Suncor Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $46.15 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Suncor Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd.

Suncor Energy Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of SU opened at $64.55 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Suncor Energy has a 1-year low of $33.50 and a 1-year high of $67.76. The stock has a market cap of $76.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60 and a beta of 0.32. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.56.

Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.02. The firm 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 company earned $1.25 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Suncor Energy will post 5.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Suncor Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Suncor Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.72%.

Institutional Trading of Suncor Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SU. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Suncor Energy by 64.9% in the third quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 117,779 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,924,000 after acquiring an additional 46,342 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Suncor Energy by 0.6% in the third 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 period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its position in Suncor Energy by 35.0% during the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 101,192 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,240,000 after purchasing an additional 26,252 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its position in Suncor Energy by 314.8% during the third quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 627,313 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $26,246,000 after purchasing an additional 476,077 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Suncor Energy by 45.7% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 723,965 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $29,871,000 after purchasing an additional 227,197 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.37% of the company’s stock.

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.