Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $65.44 and last traded at $65.57, with a volume of 37621 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $65.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SUN shares. Barclays set a $63.00 price target on Sunoco in a report on Friday, February 20th. Zacks Research downgraded Sunoco from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on 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 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Sunoco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.83.

Sunoco Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $13.56 billion, a PE ratio of 29.15 and a beta of 0.49. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.07.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.09 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 company had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. Sunoco’s quarterly revenue was up 63.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Sunoco LP will post 10.65 EPS for the current year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th were paid a $0.9317 dividend. This represents a $3.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 6th. This is an increase from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 164.32%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SUN. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Sunoco by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 25,356 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,329,000 after purchasing an additional 6,722 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors lifted its position in shares of Sunoco by 93.7% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 8,563 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $449,000 after buying an additional 4,143 shares in the last quarter. MidFirst Bank bought a new position in Sunoco during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,599,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Sunoco by 366.8% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 70,040 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,671,000 after buying an additional 55,035 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Sunoco during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $834,000. 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.