BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-one ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $40.4091.

Several research firms recently weighed in on BP. Evercore ISI set a $38.00 price target on shares of BP and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of BP in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of BP from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Santander raised BP to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $51.00 target price on shares of BP in a research note on Thursday, December 18th.

BP Stock Performance

BP stock opened at $38.01 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $99.10 billion, a PE ratio of 65.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.32. The business has a 50 day moving average of $35.41 and a 200-day moving average of $34.67. BP has a 12-month low of $25.22 and a 12-month high of $38.88.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.13. BP had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 0.79%.The business had revenue of $48.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BP will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.4992 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.3%. This is a boost from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. BP’s payout ratio is currently 341.38%.

Institutional Trading of BP

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bollard Group LLC boosted its stake in BP by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 337,724 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $10,108,000 after purchasing an additional 37,974 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS increased its position in shares of BP by 1.6% during the second quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 485,409 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $14,528,000 after buying an additional 7,645 shares during the period. Vestor Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of BP by 2,705.2% in the second quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 57,983 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,735,000 after acquiring an additional 55,916 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in BP by 206.0% during the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 252,849 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $7,568,000 after acquiring an additional 170,221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leavell Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in BP during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $216,000. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Company Profile

BP plc is a British multinational integrated energy company headquartered in London. Originating in the early 20th century as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, BP has grown into one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, operating across exploration and production, refining and marketing, trading, and a range of low-carbon businesses.

The company’s core activities include upstream exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas, midstream and trading operations, and downstream refining, marketing and supply of fuels, lubricants and petrochemicals.