Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) to Issue $0.88 Quarterly Dividend

Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 25th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be given a dividend of 0.8756 per share by the oil and gas company on Monday, August 19th. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.43%.

Sunoco has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.5% per year over the last three years. Sunoco has a payout ratio of 58.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Sunoco to earn $7.26 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.50 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 48.2%.

Sunoco Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SUN opened at $54.51 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.50 billion, a PE ratio of 12.14 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $54.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.35. Sunoco has a twelve month low of $43.85 and a twelve month high of $64.89.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The oil and gas company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.06. The business had revenue of $5.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.13 billion. Sunoco had a net margin of 2.08% and a return on equity of 35.56%. Equities research analysts expect that Sunoco will post 6.09 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SUN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Sunoco in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $61.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup raised Sunoco from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Sunoco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $62.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, June 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sunoco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Sunoco from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sunoco currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Austin Harkness acquired 1,000 shares of Sunoco stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $49.74 per share, for a total transaction of $49,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 83,686 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,162,541.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Sunoco news, CEO Joseph Kim bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $50.50 per share, with a total value of $252,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $505,000. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Austin Harkness purchased 1,000 shares of Sunoco stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $49.74 per share, for a total transaction of $49,740.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 83,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,162,541.64. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 8,000 shares of company stock worth $401,420 in the last three months.

Sunoco Company 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.