Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Stock Price

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) had its price objective boosted by Barclays from $59.00 to $62.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the oil and gas company’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Sunoco from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.67.

Sunoco Price Performance

Sunoco stock opened at $57.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $8.82 billion, a PE ratio of 8.75 and a beta of 1.35. Sunoco has a one year low of $49.45 and a one year high of $62.55. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.11.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last issued 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 net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 22.52%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sunoco will post 10.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.8865 dividend. This is a boost from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.55 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.14%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.64%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sunoco

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SUN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Sunoco by 26.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,191,570 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $117,644,000 after buying an additional 455,361 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 436,240 shares during the period. ING Groep NV grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 355,000 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sunoco during the fourth quarter worth $17,739,000. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Sunoco by 32,166.5% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 231,351 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $12,137,000 after purchasing an additional 230,634 shares during the period. 24.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.