Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) shares reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $63.59 and last traded at $61.99, with a volume of 457977 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $62.54.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Sunoco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $65.00 price objective on Sunoco and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Sunoco from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Sunoco from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Sunoco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sunoco presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.83.

Sunoco Stock Down 0.9%

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.69. The stock has a market cap of $12.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.31 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last posted 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). The company had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.65 billion. Sunoco had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 2.01%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Sunoco LP will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th were given a $0.9317 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 6th. This represents a $3.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.0%. This is a positive change from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio is 164.32%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sunoco

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SUN. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Sunoco by 6.4% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 159,128 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $9,239,000 after purchasing an additional 9,592 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel lifted its holdings in Sunoco by 12.3% during the second quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 5,847 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $313,000 after acquiring an additional 642 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in Sunoco by 41.7% in the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,360 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Texas Yale Capital Corp. increased its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 11.3% in the second quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 90,666 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,859,000 after acquiring an additional 9,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of Sunoco by 95.9% during the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,379 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the period. 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.