Traders Purchase High Volume of Suncor Energy Put Options (NYSE:SU)

Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 28,315 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 2,998% compared to the typical daily volume of 914 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its position in Suncor Energy by 64.9% in the third quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 117,779 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $4,924,000 after purchasing an additional 46,342 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Suncor Energy by 0.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 18,854,921 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $789,213,000 after purchasing an additional 106,765 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its stake in shares of Suncor Energy by 15.6% in the second quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 315,278 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $11,818,000 after acquiring an additional 42,506 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Suncor Energy by 45.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 723,965 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $29,871,000 after purchasing an additional 227,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its position in Suncor Energy by 314.8% in the 3rd quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 627,313 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $26,246,000 after purchasing an additional 476,077 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Suncor Energy from $48.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered Suncor Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 28th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Suncor Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Suncor Energy from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Suncor Energy in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Suncor Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.00.

Suncor Energy Stock Up 0.0%

SU traded up $0.01 during trading on Thursday, hitting $57.35. The stock had a trading volume of 3,250,240 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,444,576. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.39. Suncor Energy has a twelve month low of $30.79 and a twelve month high of $58.47. The company has a market capitalization of $68.24 billion, a PE ratio of 16.53 and a beta of 0.43.

Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.02. Suncor Energy had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.99%.The firm had revenue of $8.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Suncor Energy will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Suncor Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 4th. Suncor Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.14%.

Suncor Energy Company Profile

Suncor Energy Inc is a Canadian integrated energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. The company’s operations span the full oil and gas value chain, with principal activities in oil sands development and production, conventional exploration and production, refining, distribution and retail marketing of petroleum products. Suncor supplies crude, synthetic crude and refined fuels as well as related products and services to commercial and consumer markets.

Upstream, Suncor is a major developer and operator of oil sands projects in Alberta, using both mining and in situ technologies to produce bitumen and synthetic crude.