Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $66.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Sunoco to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Sunoco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sunoco presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $74.13.

Sunoco Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE:SUN opened at $71.11 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $14.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.19 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $65.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.36. Sunoco has a 52 week low of $47.98 and a 52 week high of $71.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas company reported $2.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by $1.14. The company had revenue of $10.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.19 billion. Sunoco had a net margin of 3.07% and a return on equity of 17.52%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 106.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.21 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Sunoco will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be given a $0.9899 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 8th. This is a boost from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. Sunoco’s payout ratio is 101.28%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Sunoco by 34.1% in the first quarter. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC now owns 972,935 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $63,212,000 after acquiring an additional 247,569 shares during the period. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Sunoco in the first quarter worth approximately $227,000. Waverly Advisors LLC raised its position in Sunoco by 5.3% in the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 132,058 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $8,580,000 after acquiring an additional 6,607 shares during the period. Lido Advisors LLC bought a new position in Sunoco in the first quarter worth approximately $397,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Sunoco by 15.1% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 62,560 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,065,000 after acquiring an additional 8,211 shares during the period. 24.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.