Suburban Propane Partners (NYSE:SPH) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

by · The Markets Daily

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Suburban Propane Partners (NYSE:SPH – Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday.

SPH has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded Suburban Propane Partners from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Zacks Research upgraded Suburban Propane Partners from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy”.

Read Our Latest Analysis on Suburban Propane Partners

Suburban Propane Partners Price Performance

Shares of SPH opened at $18.78 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.44 and a beta of 0.40. Suburban Propane Partners has a twelve month low of $16.53 and a twelve month high of $20.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The company has a 50 day moving average of $18.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.35.

Suburban Propane Partners (NYSE:SPH – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The energy company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.32. Suburban Propane Partners had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 19.45%. The business had revenue of $551.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $575.00 million. As a group, analysts predict that Suburban Propane Partners will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Suburban Propane Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 4th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.9%. Suburban Propane Partners’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.33%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Suburban Propane Partners

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wealthstar Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Suburban Propane Partners by 4.7% during the second quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC now owns 34,162 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $584,000 after buying an additional 1,538 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Suburban Propane Partners by 13.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 86,676 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,482,000 after acquiring an additional 10,475 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Suburban Propane Partners by 25.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 72,757 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,433,000 after acquiring an additional 14,908 shares during the last quarter. Aristides Capital LLC raised its stake in Suburban Propane Partners by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. Aristides Capital LLC now owns 24,262 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $478,000 after acquiring an additional 3,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independent Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Suburban Propane Partners during the 1st quarter worth about $298,000. 30.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Suburban Propane Partners

(Get Free Report)

Suburban Propane Partners L.P. (NYSE: SPH) is a publicly traded master limited partnership headquartered in Whippany, New Jersey, that provides propane and related energy services to residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural customers. As one of the largest propane retailers in the United States, the company delivers propane gas, heating oil, diesel fuel and natural gas throughout its service territories. In addition to fuel distribution, Suburban Propane offers HVAC installation, maintenance and repair services, as well as safety inspections and equipment leasing to support customers’ energy needs.

The company’s core business centers on the delivery of propane for space and water heating, cooking and agricultural applications.

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