Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. Has $70.46 Million Holdings in Sunoco LP $SUN

Key Points

• Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. reduced its stake in Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) by 5.2%, selling 66,120 shares, which now represents about 0.9% of the firm's total holdings.
• Sunoco reported earnings of $0.33 per share for the last quarter, significantly missing analysts' expectations of $1.68 per share, and revenue decreased by 12.7% year-over-year.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.9088, reflecting an annualized yield of 7.0% despite a high dividend payout ratio of 179.31%.

Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. cut its holdings in shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN - Free Report) by 5.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,213,616 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 66,120 shares during the quarter. Sunoco comprises 0.9% of Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. owned approximately 0.80% of Sunoco worth $70,463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sunoco by 12.3% in the first quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 23,132,625 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $1,343,080,000 after acquiring an additional 2,529,170 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Sunoco by 3.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,165,717 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $532,162,000 after acquiring an additional 296,791 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Sunoco by 5.2% in 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 grew its stake in shares of Sunoco by 2.9% in 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. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 92,187 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.29% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SUN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Mizuho lowered their price target on Sunoco from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $64.75.

Sunoco Price Performance

Shares of SUN stock traded up $0.0860 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $51.9660. The company had a trading volume of 235,967 shares, compared to its average volume of 387,551. Sunoco LP has a 12 month low of $48.00 and a 12 month high of $59.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.60 and a beta of 0.60. The firm's fifty day moving average is $53.06 and its 200 day moving average is $55.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.52.

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

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were issued a $0.9088 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. This is an increase from Sunoco's previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. Sunoco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.