Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Shares Pass Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $60.49 and traded as high as $67.41. Sunoco shares last traded at $66.3020, with a volume of 309,479 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on SUN. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Sunoco from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Sunoco from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Sunoco to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Sunoco in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Sunoco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sunoco currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $74.13.

Sunoco Stock Up 0.1%

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $66.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.96 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas company reported $2.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by $1.14. Sunoco had a return on equity of 17.52% and a net margin of 3.07%.The firm had revenue of $10.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.19 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 106.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Sunoco LP will post 7.92 EPS for the current year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.9899 per share. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.0%. This is a positive change from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio is 101.28%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sunoco

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SUN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Sunoco by 266.6% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,626,278 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $85,233,000 after acquiring an additional 1,182,662 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Sunoco by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 24,856,265 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,302,717,000 after acquiring an additional 766,781 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Sunoco by 60.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,639,420 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $85,922,000 after acquiring an additional 617,700 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Sunoco by 13.3% during the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 3,179,502 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $159,007,000 after acquiring an additional 374,396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Sunoco by 51.5% during the first quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,027,877 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $66,781,000 after acquiring an additional 349,254 shares during the last quarter. 24.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.