Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Price Target Raised to $66.00

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN - Free Report) had its price target hoisted by Mizuho from $61.00 to $66.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the oil and gas company's stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Sunoco from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $63.43.

Sunoco Trading Up 2.7 %

Sunoco stock traded up $1.55 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $59.24. The company's stock had a trading volume of 795,169 shares, compared to its average volume of 597,076. 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 has a market cap of $9.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.62 and a beta of 1.36. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $53.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.33. Sunoco 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) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($1.79). The business had revenue of $5.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.09 billion. Sunoco had a return on equity of 19.77% and a net margin of 2.72%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Sunoco will post 9.63 EPS for the current year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.8865 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.55 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.99%. This is a boost from Sunoco's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Sunoco's payout ratio is currently 80.46%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sunoco

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SUN. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Sunoco by 5,437.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 572,779 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $30,747,000 after buying an additional 562,435 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Sunoco by 26.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 455,361 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in 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. ING Groep NV boosted its stake in Sunoco by 223.7% during the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 513,715 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $26,426,000 after acquiring an additional 355,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $46,389,000 after acquiring an additional 195,583 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.29% of the company's stock.

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.