BP (NYSE:BP) Raised to Hold at Argus

Argus upgraded shares of BP (NYSE:BP) to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday morning, Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on BP. Erste Group Bank reissued a hold rating on shares of BP in a research report on Friday, June 14th. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of BP from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Piper Sandler reissued a neutral rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of BP in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of BP from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on shares of BP from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $44.23.

BP Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BP opened at $34.08 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $94.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.68, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.65. BP has a 52 week low of $33.52 and a 52 week high of $40.84. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $35.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.08. BP had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 13.83%. The firm had revenue of $47.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.89 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that BP will post 4.24 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This is an increase from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.63%. BP’s payout ratio is 59.56%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BP. Trust Point Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BP during the fourth quarter valued at about $398,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in BP by 35.4% in the fourth quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,264 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $647,000 after acquiring an additional 4,779 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in BP by 200.8% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,588 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 1,060 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its position in BP by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 120,779 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $4,276,000 after acquiring an additional 4,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cullen Investment Group LTD. bought a new stake in BP in the fourth quarter worth about $201,000. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.