Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU) Short Interest Up 19.0% in March

Key Points

• Short interest up 19%: Short interest rose to 7,301,394 shares as of March 31 (a 19.0% increase from March 15), equal to about 0.6% of shares and a days-to-cover ratio of 1.2.
• Suncor traded down 4.2% to $61.14 on heavy volume; the company pays a quarterly $0.60 dividend (annualized $2.40) for a 3.9% yield, with a market cap of $72.4 billion and a P/E of about 17.6.
• Analysts are broadly positive with several recent upgrades and higher targets (RBC to $89, Goldman Sachs to $73, JPMorgan to overweight), giving Suncor an average rating of "Buy" and an average target of $72, while institutional investors own roughly 67.4% of the stock.

Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU - Get Free Report) TSE: SU was the target of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 7,301,394 shares, an increase of 19.0% from the March 15th total of 6,133,106 shares. Approximately 0.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 6,115,466 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.2 days.

Suncor Energy Trading Down 4.2%

NYSE SU traded down $2.69 on Friday, hitting $61.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,048,724 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,940,571. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Suncor Energy has a 1-year low of $33.50 and a 1-year high of $67.76. The company's 50-day moving average is $60.39 and its 200 day moving average is $49.95. The firm has a market cap of $72.40 billion, a PE ratio of 17.62 and a beta of 0.32.

Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU - Get Free Report) TSE: SU last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.02. Suncor Energy had a net margin of 11.99% and a return on equity of 12.51%. The firm had revenue of $8.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.25 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Suncor Energy will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Suncor Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid 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 Wednesday, March 4th. Suncor Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Suncor Energy from $75.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Suncor Energy from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $46.15 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Suncor Energy from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Suncor Energy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, December 28th. Finally, ATB Cormark Capital Markets upgraded shares of Suncor Energy from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Suncor Energy has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $72.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Suncor Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Suncor Energy by 2.1% in 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 during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Suncor Energy by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 33,868,775 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $1,417,029,000 after purchasing an additional 145,800 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in shares of Suncor Energy by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 27,471,954 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $1,148,602,000 after purchasing an additional 70,300 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Suncor Energy by 14.0% in the 4th 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. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Suncor Energy by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,371,704 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $860,933,000 after purchasing an additional 516,783 shares during the last quarter. 67.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Suncor Energy

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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