Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Downgraded by Zacks Research to “Strong Sell”

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

SUN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Sunoco from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Barclays set a $63.00 price objective on Sunoco in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Sunoco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Sunoco from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Sunoco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.17.

Sunoco Stock Performance

SUN opened at $62.93 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.38. The company has a market cap of $12.89 billion, a PE ratio of 27.72 and a beta of 0.49. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $57.95 and a 200-day moving average of $54.21. Sunoco has a 52-week low of $47.98 and a 52-week high of $64.27.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sunoco

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Sunoco by 266.6% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,626,278 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $85,233,000 after buying an additional 1,182,662 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Sunoco by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 24,856,265 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,302,717,000 after purchasing an additional 766,781 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Sunoco by 60.5% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,639,420 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $85,922,000 after purchasing an additional 617,700 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in Sunoco by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 3,179,502 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $159,007,000 after buying an additional 374,396 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Sunoco by 1,562.3% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 217,855 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $11,418,000 after buying an additional 204,749 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.