Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Stock

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) had its target price increased by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $71.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the oil and gas company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 10.19% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on SUN. Zacks Research lowered shares of Sunoco from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Barclays set a $63.00 price target on shares of Sunoco in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Sunoco from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Sunoco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Sunoco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.83.

Sunoco Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of Sunoco stock opened at $64.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Sunoco has a 1-year low of $47.98 and a 1-year high of $65.24. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $59.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.79. The company has a market capitalization of $13.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.39 and a beta of 0.49.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.64 by ($1.55). Sunoco had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 2.01%.The business had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Sunoco will post 10.65 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sunoco

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. World Investment Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 93.7% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 8,563 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $449,000 after purchasing an additional 4,143 shares during the last quarter. MidFirst Bank purchased a new position in Sunoco in the 4th quarter worth about $1,599,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Sunoco by 366.8% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 70,040 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,671,000 after purchasing an additional 55,035 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Sunoco during the 4th quarter worth about $834,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Sunoco by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 7,628 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 548 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 24.29% of the company’s stock.

About Sunoco

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.