Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Cuts Holdings in Suncor Energy Inc. $SU

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its stake in Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 312,991 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 20,399 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Suncor Energy were worth $20,706,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Suncor Energy by 7,636.8% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,016,483 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $267,042,000 after buying an additional 5,938,719 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its holdings in Suncor Energy by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 21,050,387 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $934,312,000 after acquiring an additional 2,592,516 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in Suncor Energy by 5,468.8% in the fourth quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,289,219 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $101,609,000 after acquiring an additional 2,248,111 shares in the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp purchased a new position in Suncor Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $93,960,000. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its stake in Suncor Energy by 334.8% in the third quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,590,863 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $108,324,000 after acquiring an additional 1,995,007 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SU has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank raised shares of Suncor Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Suncor Energy from $75.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Suncor Energy from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Weiss Ratings raised Suncor Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Suncor Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Two equities research analysts have 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $71.67.

Suncor Energy Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:SU opened at $61.12 on Wednesday. Suncor Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.76 and a 1-year high of $70.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $72.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.04 and a beta of 0.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $61.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.40.

Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $10.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Suncor Energy had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 13.96%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Suncor Energy Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Suncor Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Suncor Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.41%.

Suncor Energy Profile

Suncor Energy Inc is a Canadian integrated energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. The company’s operations span the full oil and gas value chain, with principal activities in oil sands development and production, conventional exploration and production, refining, distribution and retail marketing of petroleum products. Suncor supplies crude, synthetic crude and refined fuels as well as related products and services to commercial and consumer markets.

Upstream, Suncor is a major developer and operator of oil sands projects in Alberta, using both mining and in situ technologies to produce bitumen and synthetic crude.