Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN - Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of "Hold" by the seven brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $62.71.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SUN. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Sunoco from $57.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Sunoco from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Sunoco from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Sunoco from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Sunoco from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $62.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th.

Institutional Trading of Sunoco

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Sunoco in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Sunoco by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,904,735 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $174,081,000 after acquiring an additional 275,875 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Sunoco by 44.1% in the 4th quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,960 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $477,000 after acquiring an additional 2,435 shares during the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sunoco by 58.0% in the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 2,387,608 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $143,089,000 after buying an additional 876,452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Sunoco by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Creative Planning now owns 19,662 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $1,178,000 after buying an additional 1,684 shares in the last quarter. 24.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Sunoco Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:SUN traded down $0.96 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $56.66. 478,241 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 453,043. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $61.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.69. Sunoco has a 52-week low of $41.95 and a 52-week high of $64.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.66, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.57 and a beta of 1.27.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The oil and gas company reported ($1.50) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($2.46). Sunoco had a net margin of 1.71% and a return on equity of 37.91%. The firm had revenue of $5.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sunoco will post 4.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.842 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 6th. This represents a $3.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.94%. Sunoco's payout ratio is 92.58%.

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.