BP (NYSE:BP) Downgraded to Buy Rating by Wall Street Zen

BP (NYSE:BP) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Piper Sandler increased their target price on BP from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded BP from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. UBS Group raised BP from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley raised BP from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $49.40 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Argus raised shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.14.

BP Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:BP opened at $39.07 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $44.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.53. The stock has a market cap of $102.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. BP has a 12 month low of $29.58 and a 12 month high of $48.27.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.24. BP had a net margin of 1.62% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The company had revenue of $52.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $48.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. BP’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that BP will post 5.37 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of BP

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT purchased a new position in BP in the fourth quarter worth about $67,890,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in shares of BP during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,136,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund bought a new stake in shares of BP during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $17,768,000. Sagefield Capital LP raised its holdings in BP by 125.2% in the 4th quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 493,556 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $17,141,000 after acquiring an additional 274,381 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Milford Funds Ltd. bought a new position in BP in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,335,000. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About BP

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.