Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) Raises Dividend to $0.88 Per Share

Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 3rd, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of 0.876 per share by the oil and gas company on Monday, May 20th. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This is a positive change from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84.

Sunoco has increased its dividend by an average of 0.5% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 1 years. Sunoco has a payout ratio of 49.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Sunoco to earn $4.47 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.37 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 75.4%.

Sunoco Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of SUN traded up $0.61 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $55.91. 613,216 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 664,122. Sunoco has a 52-week low of $41.95 and a 52-week high of $64.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.66, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.35. The firm has a market cap of $5.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.35 and a beta of 1.29.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The oil and gas company reported ($1.50) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($2.46). The firm had revenue of $5.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.42 billion. Sunoco had a net margin of 1.71% and a return on equity of 37.91%. The business’s revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Sunoco will post 5.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SUN has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $53.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Sunoco from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Citigroup lowered Sunoco from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Sunoco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $62.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Sunoco from $57.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sunoco has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.71.

Insider Transactions at Sunoco

In related news, Director David K. Skidmore purchased 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $52.10 per share, for a total transaction of $78,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 14,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $761,076.80. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

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.