UBS Group AG Increases Stock Position in Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN)

UBS Group AG boosted its stake in Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN – Get Rating) by 27.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 323,564 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 70,145 shares during the quarter. UBS Group AG’s holdings in Sunoco were worth $13,946,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SUN. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Sunoco by 8.9% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 13,939 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $569,000 after purchasing an additional 1,140 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in Sunoco by 70.2% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 23,016 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $941,000 after purchasing an additional 9,491 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC grew its position in Sunoco by 7.1% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 5,369 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $219,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in Sunoco by 5.3% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 25,640 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,048,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Sunoco by 1.7% during the first quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 15,519 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $634,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. 16.16% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sunoco Stock Performance

NYSE:SUN opened at $44.08 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.66 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.31. Sunoco LP has a twelve month low of $34.26 and a twelve month high of $48.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $5.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.01 billion. Sunoco had a net margin of 1.56% and a return on equity of 41.03%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.32 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Sunoco LP will post 4.46 EPS for the current year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 8th will be issued a $0.842 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 5th. This represents a $3.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.64%. This is a boost from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Sunoco’s payout ratio is 89.15%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Sunoco from $48.00 to $51.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 18th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Sunoco in a research report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Sunoco from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 21st. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Sunoco from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Sunoco from $48.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.29.

About Sunoco

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Sunoco LP engages in the management and distribution of fuel products. It operates through Fuel Distribution and Marketing and All Other segments. The Fuel Distribution and Marketing segment supplies fuels and other petroleum products, which it supplies to third-party dealers and distributors, independent operators of commission agent, other commercial consumers of motor fuel and to retail locations.