Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) Shares Bought by Alps Advisors Inc.

Alps Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN - Free Report) by 12.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 23,132,625 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,529,170 shares during the quarter. Sunoco accounts for 7.8% of Alps Advisors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Alps Advisors Inc. owned approximately 15.15% of Sunoco worth $1,343,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SUN. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,868,926 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $456,218,000 after acquiring an additional 198,859 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Sunoco by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,608,701 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $134,192,000 after acquiring an additional 128,042 shares during the last quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Sunoco by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 888,862 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $45,723,000 after acquiring an additional 24,686 shares during the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY boosted its position in shares of Sunoco by 15.5% in the first quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 687,244 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $39,901,000 after buying an additional 92,187 shares during the period. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Sunoco by 63.5% in the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 497,891 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $25,611,000 after buying an additional 193,278 shares during the period. 24.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on SUN shares. Mizuho raised their price objective on Sunoco from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Sunoco from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Sunoco from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sunoco currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $64.75.

Sunoco Price Performance

Shares of SUN traded up $0.44 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $53.17. The stock had a trading volume of 121,155 shares, compared to its average volume of 439,502. Sunoco LP has a 52 week low of $48.00 and a 52 week high of $59.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $54.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.44. The company has a market capitalization of $8.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.58 and a beta of 0.61.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The oil and gas company reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($0.48). Sunoco had a return on equity of 20.34% and a net margin of 3.80%. The company had revenue of $5.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.26 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Sunoco LP will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a $0.8976 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $3.59 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.75%. This is an increase from Sunoco's previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Sunoco's payout ratio is 64.68%.

About Sunoco

Sunoco LP, together with its subsidiaries, distributes and retails motor fuels in the United States. It operates through two segments: Fuel Distribution and Marketing, and All Other. The Fuel Distribution and Marketing segment purchases motor fuel, as well as other petroleum products, such as propane and lubricating oil from independent refiners and oil companies and supplies it to company-operated retail stores, independently operated commission agents, and retail stores, as well as other commercial customers, including unbranded retail stores, other fuel distributors, school districts, municipalities, and other industrial customers.