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

Key Points

• Shares of Sunoco LP carry a consensus rating of Moderate Buy from eight analysts (1 sell, 1 hold, 5 buy, 1 strong buy) with an average 12‑month price target of about $66.17, while recent broker actions ranged from upgrades (Raymond James to strong‑buy, $70) to downgrades (Zacks to strong sell, Wall Street Zen to hold).
• Sunoco missed quarterly estimates, reporting $0.09 EPS versus $1.64 expected and $8.60B revenue versus $9.65B consensus, although revenue was up roughly 63% year‑over‑year.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.9317 (annualized $3.73) for a 5.8% yield

Shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the eight research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $66.1667.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SUN. Raymond James Financial upgraded Sunoco from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Barclays set a $63.00 target price on shares of Sunoco in a report on Friday, February 20th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Sunoco from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Sunoco from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Sunoco from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th.

Institutional Trading of Sunoco

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. MidFirst Bank purchased a new position in Sunoco during the 4th quarter worth $1,599,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Sunoco by 366.8% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 70,040 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $3,671,000 after buying an additional 55,035 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Sunoco in the fourth quarter worth about $834,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Sunoco by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 7,628 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $400,000 after acquiring an additional 548 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Portfolio Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sunoco during the fourth quarter worth about $5,260,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.29% of the company's stock.

Sunoco Stock Performance

Shares of SUN stock opened at $64.20 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $13.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.28 and a beta of 0.49. Sunoco has a 52-week low of $47.98 and a 52-week high of $65.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. The company's 50 day moving average is $58.42 and its 200 day moving average is $54.36.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.64 by ($1.55). Sunoco had a net margin of 2.01% and a return on equity of 10.76%. The company had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.65 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 63.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sunoco will post 10.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th were issued a $0.9317 dividend. This is an increase from Sunoco's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $3.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 6th. Sunoco's dividend payout ratio is presently 164.32%.

Sunoco Company Profile

Sunoco LP NYSE: SUN is an independent master limited partnership that specializes in the distribution and marketing of transportation fuels and related products. The company operates through two primary segments: wholesale fuel distribution and retail marketing. In wholesale distribution, Sunoco supplies branded fuels to distributors, commercial customers and resellers across the United States. Its retail marketing arm operates a network of company‐owned and franchised Sunoco branded service stations and convenience stores, providing gasoline, diesel, ethanol blends and lubricants to consumers.

Sunoco's product portfolio extends beyond traditional fuels to include biofuels, specialty chemicals and on‐road diesel treated to meet ultra‐low sulfur requirements.

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