Morgan Stanley Upgrades Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU) to “Overweight”

Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) was upgraded by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports.

SU has been the subject of a number of other reports. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Suncor Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Zacks Research lowered Suncor Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered Suncor Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Suncor Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Desjardins raised shares of Suncor Energy to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.67.

Suncor Energy Price Performance

NYSE:SU traded up $1.15 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $68.83. 235,971 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,787,713. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $60.65 and its 200-day moving average is $61.35. The stock has a market cap of $81.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Suncor Energy has a 1-year low of $37.76 and a 1-year high of $70.29.

Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $13.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.68 billion. Suncor Energy had a net margin of 15.62% and a return on equity of 20.05%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Suncor Energy will post 7.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Suncor Energy

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Suncor Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $816,551,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in Suncor Energy during the second quarter valued at about $790,952,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Suncor Energy by 121.4% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 26,085,360 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,724,954,000 after buying an additional 14,304,131 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of Suncor Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $466,810,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Suncor Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $351,892,000. Institutional investors own 67.37% of the company’s stock.

About Suncor Energy

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.