Suburban Propane Partners, L.P. (NYSE:SPH) Shares Shorted: Short Interest Up 67.4% in September

Suburban Propane Partners, L.P. (NYSE:SPH) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totaling 483,416 shares, an increase of 67.4% from the September 15th total of 288,818 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 222,562 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days. Currently, 0.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on SPH shares. Weiss Ratings lowered Suburban Propane Partners from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, September 11th. Zacks Research downgraded Suburban Propane Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Suburban Propane Partners from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Bryon Koepke sold 2,848 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.65, for a total value of $50,267.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 100,714 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,777,602.10. This represents a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 3,360 shares of company stock worth $58,710 over the last quarter. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Suburban Propane Partners by 13.7% in the second quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 86,676 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,482,000 after purchasing an additional 10,475 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Suburban Propane Partners by 25.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 72,757 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,433,000 after buying an additional 14,908 shares during the period. Wealthstar Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Suburban Propane Partners by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC now owns 34,162 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $584,000 after buying an additional 1,538 shares during the period. Aristides Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Suburban Propane Partners by 14.6% during the 1st quarter. Aristides Capital LLC now owns 24,262 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $478,000 after buying an additional 3,088 shares during the period. Finally, Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Suburban Propane Partners by 37.4% during the 1st quarter. Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,706 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 5,906 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 30.94% of the company’s stock.

Suburban Propane Partners Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE SPH opened at $17.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.43. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.27. Suburban Propane Partners has a one year low of $16.25 and a one year high of $20.80.

Suburban Propane Partners (NYSE:SPH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The energy company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $261.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $255.00 million. Suburban Propane Partners had a net margin of 9.37% and a return on equity of 18.57%. Equities analysts forecast that Suburban Propane Partners will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Suburban Propane Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $0.3250 per share. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 4th. Suburban Propane Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.33%.

Suburban Propane Partners Company Profile

Suburban Propane Partners, L.P. is a publicly traded master limited partnership that distributes and markets energy products and related services in the United States. The company primarily supplies propane for residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural and motor-fuel applications.

Its offerings also include heating oil and other refined fuels, natural gas and electricity, as well as installation, maintenance and repair services for propane systems and heating and cooling equipment.