Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU)

Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 28,315 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 2,998% compared to the typical volume of 914 put options.

Institutional Trading of Suncor Energy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Suncor Energy by 59.7% in the 1st quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 17,606,934 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $649,872,000 after buying an additional 6,580,260 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Suncor Energy by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 32,070,496 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,032,453,000 after purchasing an additional 4,612,764 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Suncor Energy by 90.9% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,299,876 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $316,226,000 after purchasing an additional 3,951,287 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in Suncor Energy by 60.7% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,661,861 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $328,876,000 after purchasing an additional 3,272,896 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC raised its holdings in Suncor Energy by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 57,318,037 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,836,470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568,629 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on SU. Raymond James raised Suncor Energy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Suncor Energy from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised Suncor Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Suncor Energy in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $68.00 target price for the company. Finally, TD Securities raised Suncor Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.83.

Suncor Energy Price Performance

Shares of SU stock opened at $36.98 on Thursday. Suncor Energy has a 52-week low of $29.45 and a 52-week high of $41.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $38.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.32.

Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU) (TSE:SU) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.51. Suncor Energy had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 14.40%. The business had revenue of $12.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. Suncor Energy’s revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Suncor Energy will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Suncor Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.395 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $1.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.27%. Suncor Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.86%.

About Suncor Energy

Suncor Energy Inc operates as an integrated energy company in Canada, the United States, and internationally. It operates through Oil Sands; Exploration and Production; and Refining and Marketing segments. The Oil Sands segment explores, develops, and produces bitumen, synthetic crude oil, and related products.