Sunoco LP $SUN Shares Sold by J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) by 7.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 64,881 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 5,377 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Sunoco were worth $3,477,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SUN. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Sunoco in the 2nd quarter worth about $41,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 41.7% during the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,360 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Sunoco by 95.9% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,379 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of Sunoco by 110.1% in the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,040 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sunoco in the first quarter worth approximately $199,000. 24.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on SUN shares. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Sunoco in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $65.00 target price on shares of Sunoco and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Sunoco from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Sunoco in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Sunoco from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sunoco presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.83.

Sunoco Stock Performance

Shares of SUN stock opened at $55.92 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.52. The firm has a market cap of $11.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.55 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $51.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.76. Sunoco LP has a one year low of $47.98 and a one year high of $59.88.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $31.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. Sunoco had a net margin of 2.02% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.26) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Sunoco LP will post 10.65 EPS for the current year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 30th were issued a $0.9202 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 30th. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.6%. This is a boost from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 125.60%.

Sunoco Profile

Sunoco LP, together with its subsidiaries, distributes and retails motor fuels in the United States. It operates through two segments: Fuel Distribution and Marketing, and All Other. The Fuel Distribution and Marketing segment purchases motor fuel, as well as other petroleum products, such as propane and lubricating oil from independent refiners and oil companies and supplies it to company-operated retail stores, independently operated commission agents, and retail stores, as well as other commercial customers, including unbranded retail stores, other fuel distributors, school districts, municipalities, and other industrial customers.