Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Stock

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) had its price objective increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $65.00 to $67.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the oil and gas company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 6.16% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on SUN. Weiss Ratings lowered Sunoco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Sunoco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, January 5th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Sunoco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Barclays set a $63.00 price target on shares of Sunoco in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Sunoco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sunoco presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.17.

Sunoco Stock Performance

NYSE SUN opened at $63.11 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.80 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $57.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.87. Sunoco has a 1 year low of $47.98 and a 1 year high of $63.59.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.64 by ($1.55). The firm had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.65 billion. Sunoco had a net margin of 2.01% and a return on equity of 10.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Sunoco will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Sunoco

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in Sunoco by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 159,128 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $9,239,000 after purchasing an additional 9,592 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Sunoco by 41.7% in the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,360 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Texas Yale Capital Corp. increased its stake in shares of Sunoco by 11.3% in the second quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 90,666 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,859,000 after buying an additional 9,190 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of Sunoco by 95.9% during the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,379 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Midwest Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Sunoco in the second quarter worth approximately $407,000. Institutional investors own 24.29% of the company’s stock.

About Sunoco

Sunoco LP (NYSE: SUN) is an independent master limited partnership that specializes in the distribution and marketing of transportation fuels and related products. The company operates through two primary segments: wholesale fuel distribution and retail marketing. In wholesale distribution, Sunoco supplies branded fuels to distributors, commercial customers and resellers across the United States. Its retail marketing arm operates a network of company‐owned and franchised Sunoco branded service stations and convenience stores, providing gasoline, diesel, ethanol blends and lubricants to consumers.

Sunoco’s product portfolio extends beyond traditional fuels to include biofuels, specialty chemicals and on‐road diesel treated to meet ultra‐low sulfur requirements.