Suncor Energy Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:SU)

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Suncor Energy

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SU. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Suncor Energy by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,720,921 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,473,173,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166,405 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Suncor Energy by 0.4% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 145,800 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox raised its position in shares of Suncor Energy by 0.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 70,300 shares during the period. FIL Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Suncor Energy by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 21,050,387 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $934,312,000 after buying an additional 2,592,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Suncor Energy by 3.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 641,354 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on SU shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Suncor Energy from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Suncor Energy in a report on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Suncor Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $46.15 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Wall Street Zen cut Suncor Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 28th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised shares of Suncor Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.00.

Suncor Energy Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of Suncor Energy stock opened at $56.81 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.60 billion, a PE ratio of 16.37 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $48.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.02. Suncor Energy has a 52-week low of $30.79 and a 52-week high of $57.13. 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 (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $8.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.79 billion. Suncor Energy had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.99%.During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Suncor Energy will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Suncor Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 4th. Suncor Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 49.57%.

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.