Neuberger Berman Group LLC Buys 43,034 Shares of Sunoco LP $SUN

Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 713,303 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 43,034 shares during the quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC’s holdings in Sunoco were worth $35,672,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 24,089,484 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,204,715,000 after purchasing an additional 599,655 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC increased its stake in Sunoco by 4.1% during the second quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 1,883,992 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $100,963,000 after acquiring an additional 73,696 shares during the period. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its stake in Sunoco by 0.5% during the third quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 694,880 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $34,751,000 after acquiring an additional 3,784 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Sunoco by 33.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 593,970 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $29,704,000 after acquiring an additional 149,732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sunoco by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 365,953 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $19,611,000 after acquiring an additional 18,990 shares during the period. 24.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sunoco Price Performance

Shares of SUN stock opened at $64.20 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.38. Sunoco LP has a one year low of $47.98 and a one year high of $65.24. The firm has a market cap of $13.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.28 and a beta of 0.49. 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 (NYSE:SUN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.65 billion. Sunoco had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 2.01%.The business’s revenue was up 63.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Sunoco LP will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.9317 per share. This is an increase from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 6th. This represents a $3.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.8%. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio is 164.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on SUN shares. Barclays set a $63.00 price objective on Sunoco in a report on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings cut Sunoco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted 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. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Sunoco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, 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 research note on Monday, January 5th. 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sunoco presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.17.

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.