Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on SUN. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Sunoco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Barclays lifted their target price on Sunoco from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Sunoco in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Sunoco from $73.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Sunoco from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $79.00.

Sunoco Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:SUN opened at $70.58 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.62 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50 day moving average of $69.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.95. Sunoco has a 52-week low of $47.98 and a 52-week high of $78.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by ($1.56). The firm had revenue of $14.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. Sunoco had a return on equity of 18.78% and a net margin of 2.88%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 164.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Sunoco will post 11.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sunoco

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Sunoco by 266.6% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,626,278 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $85,233,000 after buying an additional 1,182,662 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sunoco by 3.2% in the 4th 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 period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Sunoco by 60.5% in the 4th 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 period. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 51.5% in the first quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,027,877 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $66,781,000 after acquiring an additional 349,254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 34.1% in the first quarter. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC now owns 972,935 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $63,212,000 after acquiring an additional 247,569 shares in the last quarter. 24.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.