Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the ten research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $74.1250.

Several research firms have weighed in on SUN. Wall Street Zen downgraded Sunoco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Sunoco from $63.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Sunoco from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Sunoco from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sunoco

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 44.0% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 10,986 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $714,000 after purchasing an additional 3,358 shares during the last quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sunoco in the first quarter worth about $138,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 32.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 204,609 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $13,293,000 after purchasing an additional 49,589 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 7.2% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 190,474 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $12,375,000 after purchasing an additional 12,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 51.5% in the first quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,027,877 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $66,781,000 after purchasing an additional 349,254 shares during the last quarter. 24.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Sunoco Price Performance

Shares of Sunoco stock opened at $65.28 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.69 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.47. Sunoco has a 52 week low of $47.98 and a 52 week high of $72.88.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas company reported $2.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $1.14. The firm had revenue of $10.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.19 billion. Sunoco had a return on equity of 17.52% and a net margin of 3.07%.The firm’s revenue was up 106.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Sunoco will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th were issued a $0.9899 dividend. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.1%. This is a positive change from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. Sunoco’s payout ratio is presently 101.28%.

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.