Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU) Hits New 52-Week High - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Suncor Energy hit a new 52-week high, trading as high as $68.09 (last $67.76) on Thursday with about 835,381 shares changing hands.
• Analysts have been upgrading the stock, leaving a MarketBeat consensus rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $72, with some firms (RBC, Goldman) raising targets as high as $89 and $73 respectively.
• Key fundamentals: market cap ~ $81.2B, the company beat quarterly EPS expectations ($0.79 vs. $0.77), pays a quarterly dividend that annualizes to a 3.5% yield, and roughly 67% of shares are held by institutions.

Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU - Get Free Report) TSE: SU reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $68.09 and last traded at $67.7640, with a volume of 835381 shares. The stock had previously closed at $67.07.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SU has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. ATB Cormark Capital Markets raised Suncor Energy from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Zacks Research raised Suncor Energy from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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 report on Tuesday, January 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Suncor Energy from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Suncor Energy from $75.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $72.00.

Suncor Energy Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $81.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.75 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $61.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $51.31.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.02. Suncor Energy had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.99%.The firm had revenue of $8.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Suncor Energy Inc. will post 5.72 EPS for the current year.

Suncor Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Suncor Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.43%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Suncor Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Suncor Energy by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,720,921 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $2,473,173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,166,405 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in Suncor Energy by 0.4% in the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 33,868,775 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $1,417,029,000 after acquiring an additional 145,800 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox raised its position in Suncor Energy by 0.3% in the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 27,471,954 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $1,148,602,000 after acquiring an additional 70,300 shares during the period. FIL Ltd raised its position in Suncor Energy by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 21,050,387 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $934,312,000 after acquiring an additional 2,592,516 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Suncor Energy by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,371,704 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $860,933,000 after acquiring an additional 516,783 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.37% of the company's stock.

Suncor Energy Company Profile

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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