Short Interest in Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) Declines By 17.6%

Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,970,000 shares, a drop of 17.6% from the February 13th total of 2,390,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 503,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days. Approximately 1.3% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in Sunoco by 11.7% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 96,377 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,236,000 after acquiring an additional 10,080 shares in the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sunoco in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $256,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Sunoco by 26.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,191,570 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $117,644,000 after buying an additional 455,361 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Sunoco during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $524,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 27,364 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,467,000 after buying an additional 1,073 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Sunoco from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Sunoco from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sunoco has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.67.

Sunoco Stock Down 1.1 %

SUN traded down $0.67 during trading on Thursday, reaching $57.85. 52,550 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 489,371. The stock has a market cap of $8.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.77 and a beta of 1.35. Sunoco has a twelve month low of $49.45 and a twelve month high of $62.55. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $56.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The oil and gas company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.73). Sunoco had a return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 3.85%. Equities analysts expect that Sunoco will post 10.65 EPS for the current year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.8865 per share. This is a boost from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.55 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.13%. Sunoco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.64%.

About Sunoco

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.