Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY Buys 92,187 Shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN)

Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY grew its holdings in shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN - Free Report) by 15.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 687,244 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 92,187 shares during the quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY owned about 0.45% of Sunoco worth $39,901,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sunoco in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in Sunoco by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,245 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new position in Sunoco in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $90,000. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in Sunoco by 440.3% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,783 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 1,453 shares during the period. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in shares of Sunoco during the fourth quarter worth $102,000. Institutional investors own 24.29% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SUN. Mizuho boosted 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. Barclays decreased their price target on Sunoco from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Sunoco from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sunoco presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $64.75.

Sunoco Price Performance

Shares of Sunoco stock traded up $0.55 during trading on Thursday, hitting $55.00. The stock had a trading volume of 251,974 shares, compared to its average volume of 439,383. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. Sunoco LP has a 12 month low of $48.00 and a 12 month high of $59.88. The firm has a market cap of $8.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.91 and a beta of 0.61. The business's 50-day moving average is $54.89 and its 200 day moving average is $55.37.

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 for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($0.48). The business had revenue of $5.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Sunoco had a return on equity of 20.34% and a net margin of 3.80%. Sunoco's revenue was down 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.26 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sunoco LP will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were given a $0.8976 dividend. This represents a $3.59 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.53%. This is a boost from Sunoco's previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. Sunoco's dividend payout ratio is 64.68%.

Sunoco Profile

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.