BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $43.1364.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of BP from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Raymond James Financial decreased their price target on BP from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of BP in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of BP in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Bank of America lowered BP from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lifted its holdings in BP by 1.6% in the second quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 485,409 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $14,528,000 after acquiring an additional 7,645 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in shares of BP by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 465,269 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $13,926,000 after purchasing an additional 19,279 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BP by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 370,300 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $12,761,000 after purchasing an additional 11,150 shares during the last quarter. Bollard Group LLC boosted its position in BP by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 337,724 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $10,108,000 after purchasing an additional 37,974 shares during the period. Finally, Altrius Capital Management Inc grew its stake in BP by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 278,305 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $9,590,000 after buying an additional 1,669 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of BP opened at $35.86 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $93.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.83, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The business’s 50 day moving average is $35.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.50. BP has a 52-week low of $25.22 and a 52-week high of $37.64.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.13. BP had a net margin of 0.79% and a return on equity of 9.07%. The business had revenue of $48.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.83 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that BP will post 3.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be given a $0.4992 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. This is an increase from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. BP’s payout ratio is 341.38%.

BP Company Profile

BP p.l.c. provides carbon products and services. The company operates through Gas & Low Carbon Energy, Oil Production & Operations, and Customers & Products segments. It engages in the production of natural gas, and integrated gas and power; trading of gas; operation of onshore and offshore wind power, as well as hydrogen and carbon capture and storage facilities; trading and marketing of renewable and non-renewable power; and production of crude oil.