Suncor Energy Inc. $SU Stock Position Trimmed by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group trimmed its Suncor Energy stake by 8.7% in the first quarter, selling about 1.69 million shares. It still owned 17.68 million shares, worth roughly $1.17 billion, making Suncor its 29th largest holding.
• Analyst sentiment remains mostly positive, with the stock carrying a “Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $71.67. Recent moves included upgrades from Scotiabank and Wall Street Zen, though Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to neutral.
• Suncor reported $1.41 EPS on revenue of $10.41 billion for the latest quarter, missing profit estimates but beating on revenue. The company also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.60 per share, equal to a 3.9% yield.

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU - Free Report) TSE: SU by 8.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,681,187 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 1,690,517 shares during the period. Suncor Energy makes up about 0.6% of Principal Financial Group Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 1.49% of Suncor Energy worth $1,165,739,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Suncor Energy by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,720,921 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $2,473,173,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166,405 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in Suncor Energy by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 21,050,387 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $934,312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,592,516 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Suncor Energy by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 16,820,924 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $746,176,000 after purchasing an additional 1,289,959 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Suncor Energy by 17.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,877,899 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $571,264,000 after buying an additional 1,917,612 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Suncor Energy by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,198,534 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $541,138,000 after buying an additional 222,932 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.37% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on SU shares. Weiss Ratings raised Suncor Energy from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Scotiabank raised Suncor Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Suncor Energy from $75.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Wall Street Zen raised Suncor Energy from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Sunday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Suncor Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, June 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $71.67.

Suncor Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Suncor Energy stock opened at $61.22 on Tuesday. Suncor Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.76 and a 12 month high of $70.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market cap of $72.28 billion, a PE ratio of 16.07 and a beta of 0.30. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.28.

Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU - Get Free Report) TSE: SU last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.45 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $10.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Suncor Energy had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 13.96%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Suncor Energy Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Suncor Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th were given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. Suncor Energy's dividend payout ratio is 45.67%.

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.

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