LPL Financial LLC Sells 15,099 Shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN)

LPL Financial LLC lowered its position in Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN - Free Report) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 177,939 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 15,099 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.12% of Sunoco worth $9,153,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Sunoco by 26.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,191,570 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $117,644,000 after purchasing an additional 455,361 shares in the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY grew its stake in Sunoco by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 595,057 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $30,610,000 after buying an additional 5,296 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV raised its holdings in Sunoco by 223.7% during the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 513,715 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $26,426,000 after acquiring an additional 355,000 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Sunoco by 908,833.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 436,288 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $23,419,000 after acquiring an additional 436,240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sunoco during the fourth quarter worth $17,739,000. 24.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SUN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Sunoco from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Sunoco from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Sunoco has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $63.83.

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Sunoco Price Performance

SUN traded down $4.24 on Friday, reaching $52.76. The company had a trading volume of 668,796 shares, compared to its average volume of 511,179. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 1.27. Sunoco LP has a 52-week low of $49.45 and a 52-week high of $59.67. The company has a market cap of $8.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.99 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.62.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The oil and gas company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.73). Sunoco had a return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 3.85%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sunoco LP will post 10.65 EPS for the current year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.8865 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This is a positive change from Sunoco's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.55 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.72%. Sunoco's dividend payout ratio is 53.64%.

Sunoco Profile

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.