SunCoke Energy’s (SXC) Buy Rating Reiterated at Benchmark

SunCoke Energy (NYSE:SXC)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by investment analysts at Benchmark in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $12.00 target price on the energy company’s stock. Benchmark’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 16.39% from the company’s current price.

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of SunCoke Energy from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th.

SunCoke Energy Price Performance

NYSE SXC traded up $0.18 on Thursday, hitting $10.31. The stock had a trading volume of 672,411 shares, compared to its average volume of 639,475. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $10.81 and a 200-day moving average of $10.30. The company has a market capitalization of $866.81 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.52 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 2.06. SunCoke Energy has a 52-week low of $6.71 and a 52-week high of $11.48.

SunCoke Energy (NYSE:SXC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The energy company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.01. SunCoke Energy had a return on equity of 9.48% and a net margin of 2.97%. The business had revenue of $488.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $549.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that SunCoke Energy will post 0.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SunCoke Energy news, CEO Michael G. Rippey sold 122,533 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.11, for a total value of $1,361,341.63. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 521,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,789,121.03. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other SunCoke Energy news, CEO Michael G. Rippey sold 122,533 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.11, for a total value of $1,361,341.63. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 521,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,789,121.03. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Michael G. Rippey sold 48,618 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.93, for a total value of $531,394.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 763,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,344,060.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 251,572 shares of company stock worth $2,781,834. Insiders own 1.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of SunCoke Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of SunCoke Energy by 19.7% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 115,571 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,302,000 after purchasing an additional 19,020 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of SunCoke Energy by 130.5% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 114,779 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after purchasing an additional 64,978 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SunCoke Energy during the first quarter valued at approximately $872,000. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SunCoke Energy during the first quarter valued at approximately $174,000. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of SunCoke Energy by 9.9% during the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 57,945 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $653,000 after purchasing an additional 5,210 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.45% of the company’s stock.

About SunCoke Energy

SunCoke Energy, Inc operates as an independent producer of coke in the Americas and Brazil. The company operates through three segments: Domestic Coke, Brazil Coke, and Logistics. It offers metallurgical and thermal coal. The company also provides handling and/or mixing services to steel, coke, electric utility, coal producing, and other manufacturing based customers.