Traders Purchase Large Volume of Suncor Energy Put Options (NYSE:SU)

Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU - Get Free Report) TSE: SU was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 28,315 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 2,998% compared to the average daily volume of 914 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Suncor Energy by 43.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 49,668 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $1,860,000 after buying an additional 14,960 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Suncor Energy by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 17,720 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $664,000 after buying an additional 1,295 shares in the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lifted its stake in Suncor Energy by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 617,173 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $23,072,000 after purchasing an additional 12,766 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Suncor Energy by 17.2% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 496,768 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $18,793,000 after purchasing an additional 72,824 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in Suncor Energy by 17.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 72,823 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $2,727,000 after purchasing an additional 10,961 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Suncor Energy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Suncor Energy currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $66.00.

Suncor Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SU stock traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $39.31. 2,698,794 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,448,143. Suncor Energy has a 12 month low of $30.79 and a 12 month high of $41.94. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $38.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.07 billion, a PE ratio of 11.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.80.

Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU - Get Free Report) TSE: SU last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.05. Suncor Energy had a net margin of 11.95% and a return on equity of 14.90%. The company had revenue of $9.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.41 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Suncor Energy will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Suncor Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $0.4133 per share. This is a boost from Suncor Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $1.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.20%. Suncor Energy's payout ratio is 47.84%.

Suncor Energy Company Profile

Suncor Energy Inc operates as an integrated energy company in Canada, the United States, and internationally. It operates through Oil Sands; Exploration and Production; and Refining and Marketing segments. The Oil Sands segment explores, develops, and produces bitumen, synthetic crude oil, and related products.