Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) Short Interest Update

Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN - Get Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,970,000 shares, a drop of 17.6% from the February 13th total of 2,390,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 503,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.9 days. Currently, 1.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on SUN shares. Barclays raised their target price on Sunoco from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Mizuho raised their target price on Sunoco from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Sunoco from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sunoco presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $63.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,245 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 10,637 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $570,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 25,251 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $1,355,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Sunoco by 5.6% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,800 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $204,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Sunoco by 2.6% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,627 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $517,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. 24.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sunoco Price Performance

SUN stock traded down $0.93 during trading on Friday, hitting $56.94. The stock had a trading volume of 948,594 shares, compared to its average volume of 493,860. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.66. Sunoco has a twelve month low of $49.45 and a twelve month high of $62.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.63 and a beta of 1.35. The company's 50-day moving average price is $56.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.28.

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 the consensus estimate 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, research analysts predict that Sunoco will post 10.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.8865 dividend. This represents a $3.55 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.23%. This is a positive change from Sunoco's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Sunoco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.64%.

Sunoco Company 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.