Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) Position Cut by Westwood Holdings Group Inc.

Key Points

• Westwood Holdings Group Inc. reduced its stake in Sunoco LP by 23.4%, now holding 25,596 shares valued at approximately $1.49 million.
• Sunoco recently reported a missed earnings estimate for the quarter, with EPS of $0.33, significantly lower than the expected $1.68, and revenue down 12.7% year-over-year at $5.39 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.9088, increasing from the previous $0.90, resulting in an annual yield of 6.9%.

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN - Free Report) by 23.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,596 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 7,800 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.'s holdings in Sunoco were worth $1,486,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SUN. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Sunoco in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new position in Sunoco in the fourth quarter valued at about $90,000. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in Sunoco in the fourth quarter valued at about $102,000. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in Sunoco by 17.1% in the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,865 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $166,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Income Solutions Inc acquired a new stake in Sunoco in the first quarter worth about $203,000. Institutional investors own 24.29% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on SUN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Sunoco from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Mizuho cut their target price on Sunoco from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 14th.

Sunoco Stock Performance

Shares of SUN stock traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $50.67. The company had a trading volume of 234,957 shares, compared to its average volume of 431,713. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $53.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.53. Sunoco LP has a 52-week low of $48.00 and a 52-week high of $59.88. The stock has a market cap of $7.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.98 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

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

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be given a $0.9088 dividend. This is an increase from Sunoco's previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 8th. Sunoco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 179.31%.

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.