Sun Communities, Inc. (NYSE:SUI) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Sun Communities, Inc. (NYSE:SUI) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $136.60.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on SUI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Sun Communities from $154.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Sun Communities from $136.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Sun Communities in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Sun Communities from $145.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sun Communities

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its holdings in Sun Communities by 30.3% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 16,373,446 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,013,414,000 after acquiring an additional 3,811,528 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox boosted its holdings in shares of Sun Communities by 61.1% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 9,606,018 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,181,252,000 after purchasing an additional 3,644,853 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Sun Communities by 51.3% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,917,870 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $973,660,000 after purchasing an additional 2,684,214 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Sun Communities during the 4th quarter valued at about $888,783,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Sun Communities by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,549,540 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $682,429,000 after purchasing an additional 911,857 shares during the last quarter. 99.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Sun Communities Price Performance

NYSE:SUI opened at $128.99 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.35 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $129.02 and a 200 day moving average of $128.77. Sun Communities has a 52-week low of $110.98 and a 52-week high of $147.83.

Sun Communities (NYSE:SUI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $745.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $724.68 million. Sun Communities had a net margin of 7.46% and a return on equity of 3.21%. On average, research analysts expect that Sun Communities will post 6.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sun Communities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Sun Communities’s dividend payout ratio is 508.11%.

About Sun Communities

Established in 1975, Sun Communities, Inc became a publicly owned corporation in December 1993. The Company is a fully integrated REIT listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol: SUI. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned, operated, or had an interest in a portfolio of 667 developed MH, RV and Marina properties comprising 179,310 developed sites and approximately 48,030 wet slips and dry storage spaces in the U.S., the UK and Canada.