Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 401,811 Shares of Suncor Energy Inc. $SU

Van ECK Associates Corp lessened its holdings in Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) by 88.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 50,556 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 401,811 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Suncor Energy were worth $2,714,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SU. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Suncor Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $816,551,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in shares of Suncor Energy during the second quarter valued at $790,952,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Suncor Energy by 121.4% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 26,085,360 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,724,954,000 after acquiring an additional 14,304,131 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Suncor Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $466,810,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Suncor Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $351,892,000. 67.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $106.00 target price on shares of Suncor Energy in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Suncor Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $72.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Suncor Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings raised Suncor Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Suncor Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.25.

Suncor Energy Stock Performance

SU stock opened at $68.32 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $62.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.47. Suncor Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.76 and a fifty-two week high of $70.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.67 billion, a PE ratio of 12.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.30.

Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $13.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.68 billion. Suncor Energy had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 15.62%.During the same period last year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. Analysts forecast that Suncor Energy Inc. will post 7.39 EPS for the current year.

Suncor Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Suncor Energy’s payout ratio is currently 32.04%.

Suncor Energy 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.