BP (NYSE:BP) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of BP (NYSE:BP) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. HSBC cut shares of BP from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of BP from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Evercore ISI raised shares of BP to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of BP from $47.00 to $42.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a neutral rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of BP in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, BP has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $44.23.

BP Price Performance

BP stock opened at $32.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $90.75 billion, a PE ratio of 10.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.64. BP has a one year low of $30.67 and a one year high of $40.84.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $47.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.82 billion. BP had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 3.60%. BP’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. On average, analysts predict that BP will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This is an increase from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.56%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in BP during the second quarter valued at about $75,000. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BP in the second quarter valued at about $237,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of BP by 3.4% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,087 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $534,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its holdings in BP by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 360,050 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $12,998,000 after purchasing an additional 7,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC bought a new position in BP in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $264,000. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

About BP

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.