Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on SUN. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Sunoco from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Sunoco in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $65.00 price target on Sunoco and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Sunoco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded Sunoco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, January 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $65.00.

Sunoco Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of SUN opened at $57.76 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.81 billion, a PE ratio of 19.71 and a beta of 0.51. Sunoco has a 12-month low of $47.98 and a 12-month high of $59.88. The company has a quick ratio of 2.50, a current ratio of 3.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.33.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.54 by ($0.90). The firm had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Sunoco had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 2.61%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.26) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Sunoco will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sunoco

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Sunoco by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 159,128 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $9,239,000 after purchasing an additional 9,592 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in Sunoco by 18.3% in the second quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 17,086 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $916,000 after buying an additional 2,639 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 3.9% in the second quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,187 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $278,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Group acquired a new position in shares of Sunoco in the second quarter valued at approximately $462,000. Finally, Harbor Asset Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sunoco during the second quarter worth $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.