JPMorgan Chase & Co. Trims Stake in Sunoco LP $SUN

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lessened its stake in Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) by 42.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 443,616 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 328,360 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.29% of Sunoco worth $22,185,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sunoco in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of Sunoco by 95.9% in 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 period. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in shares of Sunoco during the 2nd quarter worth about $111,000. Finally, Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sunoco during the 3rd quarter valued at about $200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.29% of the company’s stock.

Sunoco Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of SUN stock opened at $63.72 on Monday. Sunoco LP has a fifty-two week low of $47.98 and a fifty-two week high of $63.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.38. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $57.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.07 and a beta of 0.49.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by ($1.55). The business had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.65 billion. Sunoco had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 2.01%.Sunoco’s quarterly revenue was up 63.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. Research analysts expect that Sunoco LP will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th were paid a $0.9317 dividend. This is a positive change from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 6th. This represents a $3.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.8%. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio is 164.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SUN. Barclays set a $63.00 price target on Sunoco in a report on Friday, February 20th. Raymond James Financial raised Sunoco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Sunoco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Sunoco from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Sunoco from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sunoco has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.17.

Sunoco Company Profile

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.