Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU) Sees Large Volume Increase – Still a Buy?

Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) saw an uptick in trading volume on Thursday . 10,676,178 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 128% from the previous session’s volume of 4,689,770 shares.The stock last traded at $68.7790 and had previously closed at $68.39.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on SU. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Suncor Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $106.00 target price on shares of Suncor Energy in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Zacks Research cut Suncor Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Suncor Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Suncor Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.25.

Suncor Energy Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.65. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.38. The stock has a market cap of $80.85 billion, a PE ratio of 12.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.30.

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 company had revenue of $13.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.68 billion. Suncor Energy had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 15.62%.During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Suncor Energy Inc. will post 7.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Suncor Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Suncor Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.04%.

Institutional Trading of Suncor Energy

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Suncor Energy by 121.4% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 26,085,360 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,724,954,000 after buying an additional 14,304,131 shares during 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 worth $934,312,000 after buying an additional 2,592,516 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Suncor Energy by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 16,820,924 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $746,176,000 after purchasing an additional 1,289,959 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Suncor Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $816,551,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in shares of Suncor Energy in the second quarter valued at about $790,952,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.37% of the company’s stock.

Suncor Energy Company 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.