Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 14,599 Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 14,599 shares of the oil and gas company's stock, valued at approximately $784,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. lifted its stake in Sunoco by 26,345.6% during the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 1,351,368 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $76,406,000 after acquiring an additional 1,346,258 shares during the period. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 3.1% during the third quarter. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,087,407 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $58,372,000 after purchasing an additional 32,239 shares during the last quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Sunoco by 29.3% during the third quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 864,176 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $46,389,000 after purchasing an additional 195,583 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Sunoco by 176.6% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 700,229 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $39,591,000 after purchasing an additional 447,072 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY grew its position in Sunoco by 33.4% in the 2nd quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 583,323 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $32,981,000 after purchasing an additional 146,152 shares during the period. 24.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SUN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Sunoco from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Barclays increased their target price on Sunoco from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Sunoco from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sunoco presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $62.75.

Sunoco Stock Performance

Shares of SUN stock traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $53.63. 152,382 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 505,935. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $53.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $8.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.31 and a beta of 1.34. Sunoco LP has a 12-month low of $49.45 and a 12-month high of $64.89.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($1.79). Sunoco had a net margin of 2.72% and a return on equity of 19.77%. The business had revenue of $5.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. Sunoco's revenue was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Sunoco LP will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.8756 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.53%. Sunoco's payout ratio is 80.46%.

About Sunoco

Sunoco LP, together with its subsidiaries, distributes and retails motor fuels in the United States. It operates through two segments: Fuel Distribution and Marketing, and All Other. The Fuel Distribution and Marketing segment purchases motor fuel, as well as other petroleum products, such as propane and lubricating oil from independent refiners and oil companies and supplies it to company-operated retail stores, independently operated commission agents, and retail stores, as well as other commercial customers, including unbranded retail stores, other fuel distributors, school districts, municipalities, and other industrial customers.