Sunoco LP $SUN Shares Sold by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. sold 211,613 shares of Sunoco LP, reducing its stake by 3.1% to 6,523,354 shares, worth approximately $378.7 million.
• Despite the decrease in Goldman Sachs' holdings, other institutional investors, such as EP Wealth Advisors LLC and International Assets Investment Management LLC, have increased their positions in Sunoco during the same quarter.
• Sunoco recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.9088, reflecting a strong yield of 7.1%, despite having a high dividend payout ratio of 179.31%.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN - Free Report) by 3.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,523,354 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 211,613 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned 4.27% of Sunoco worth $378,746,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Sunoco by 14.2% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,978,209 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $172,915,000 after acquiring an additional 369,508 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Sunoco by 3.4% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 49,523 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $2,875,000 after acquiring an additional 1,607 shares during the period. Cooperman Leon G acquired a new position in shares of Sunoco during the first quarter worth about $16,547,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Sunoco by 2.2% during the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,590 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $499,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Sunoco by 6.4% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 159,128 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $9,239,000 after acquiring an additional 9,592 shares during the period. 24.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SUN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Sunoco from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Sunoco from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Sunoco has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $64.50.

Sunoco Price Performance

SUN stock traded down $0.35 on Friday, reaching $50.15. The company had a trading volume of 250,635 shares, compared to its average volume of 333,806. Sunoco LP has a 1 year low of $48.00 and a 1 year high of $59.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.52. The company's fifty day moving average is $52.44 and its 200 day moving average is $54.62. The company has a market cap of $7.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.71 and a beta of 0.58.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The oil and gas company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by ($1.35). The company had revenue of $5.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.42 billion. Sunoco had a net margin of 2.02% and a return on equity of 10.57%. Sunoco's quarterly revenue was down 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.85 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Sunoco LP will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were issued a dividend of $0.9088 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. This is a positive change from Sunoco's previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. Sunoco's payout ratio is currently 179.31%.

Sunoco Company 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.