SunCoke Energy (NYSE:SXC) Stock Dropped to Hold by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of SunCoke Energy (NYSE:SXC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Monday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Separately, Weiss Ratings raised shares of SunCoke Energy from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.00.

SunCoke Energy Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of SXC stock opened at $10.31 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 2.25. SunCoke Energy has a twelve month low of $5.51 and a twelve month high of $10.68. The company has a market capitalization of $875.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.12 and a beta of 1.01.

SunCoke Energy (NYSE:SXC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The energy company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $475.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.20 million. SunCoke Energy had a positive return on equity of 6.37% and a negative net margin of 2.88%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.02 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that SunCoke Energy will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

SunCoke Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.7%. SunCoke Energy’s payout ratio is currently -75.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SunCoke Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SXC. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in SunCoke Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $72,643,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of SunCoke Energy by 1.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,410,182 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $35,222,000 after buying an additional 68,996 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of SunCoke Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $7,359,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of SunCoke Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $6,614,000. Finally, Readystate Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of SunCoke Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $5,038,000. 90.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

SunCoke Energy Company Profile

SunCoke Energy, Inc is an independent producer of metallurgical coke, a carbon-based fuel and reducing agent used in blast-furnace steelmaking. The company operates cokemaking facilities in the United States and supplies coke primarily to integrated steel producers under long-term commercial arrangements.

SunCoke’s operations use coal as a raw material and employ heat-recovery technology that captures energy generated during the cokemaking process to produce electricity. In addition to coke production, the company provides coal-handling, storage, transloading and terminal services through its logistics operations, supporting the movement of coal and other bulk materials for industrial customers.

SunCoke Energy was formed from the cokemaking operations of Sunoco and became an independent, publicly traded company in 2012.