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

Shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eight research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $62.75.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SUN. Barclays lifted their price objective on Sunoco from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Sunoco from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in Sunoco by 40.8% during the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 52,064 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $2,944,000 after acquiring an additional 15,087 shares in the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Sunoco by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 10,553 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $597,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Sunoco in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $93,000. Linscomb Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Sunoco during the 2nd quarter valued at $833,000. Finally, BOKF NA acquired a new stake in Sunoco during the 2nd quarter valued at $508,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.29% of the company's stock.

Sunoco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SUN traded up $0.55 during trading on Thursday, reaching $52.31. The company had a trading volume of 259,466 shares, compared to its average volume of 293,413. 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 stock's fifty day moving average price is $52.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.59. Sunoco has a fifty-two week low of $49.45 and a fifty-two week high of $64.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.03 and a beta of 1.36.

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

Sunoco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.8756 dividend. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Sunoco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.