Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) Plans Dividend Increase – $1.01 Per Share

Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 6th will be paid a dividend of $1.0148 per share by the oil and gas company on Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $4.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 6th. This is a 1.2% increase from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.0023.

Sunoco has a payout ratio of 70.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Sunoco to earn $10.61 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.7%.

Sunoco Stock Performance

SUN opened at $72.99 on Friday. Sunoco has a 1-year low of $49.98 and a 1-year high of $80.22. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $75.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.29.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by ($1.56). Sunoco had a net margin of 2.88% and a return on equity of 18.78%. The business had revenue of $14.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.33 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 164.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Sunoco will post 9.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on SUN shares. Mizuho set a $83.00 price objective on Sunoco in a report on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered Sunoco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Sunoco from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 price target on shares of Sunoco in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $77.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sunoco currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $79.75.

About Sunoco

Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) is a master limited partnership focused primarily on the distribution and wholesale marketing of motor fuels. The company supplies gasoline, diesel and other refined products to independent fuel retailers, commercial customers, distributors and other end users, including customers operating under the Sunoco brand.

Sunoco’s operations include fuel terminals, pipelines, transportation assets and other logistics infrastructure used to receive, store, blend and deliver petroleum products.