HighTower Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN)

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) by 4.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 27,364 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 1,073 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Sunoco were worth $1,467,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new position in shares of Sunoco during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Sunoco in the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in Sunoco during the second quarter valued at $46,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Sunoco in the second quarter worth $93,000. Finally, Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sunoco in the second quarter valued at $207,000. Institutional investors own 24.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Sunoco from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Sunoco from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Sunoco from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.75.

Sunoco Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Sunoco stock opened at $53.36 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $53.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.77. The company has a market cap of $8.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.27 and a beta of 1.33. Sunoco LP has a 12-month low of $49.45 and a 12-month high of $64.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($1.79). The firm had revenue of $5.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.09 billion. Sunoco had a return on equity of 19.77% and a net margin of 2.72%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Sunoco LP will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.8756 per share. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio is 80.46%.

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.