BP (NYSE:BP) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $32.27, but opened at $34.19. BP shares last traded at $34.35, with a volume of 7,260,976 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on BP shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of BP in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com cut BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on BP from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on BP from $34.70 to $31.80 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on BP from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.76.

BP Stock Up 0.4 %

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.34. The company has a market cap of $92.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.37, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.12). BP had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 1.36%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BP p.l.c. will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BP. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. grew its stake in shares of BP by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 129,215 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $3,820,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of BP by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 4,549 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of BP by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 11,459 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the period. Atlas Brown Inc. grew its stake in shares of BP by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 37,338 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,104,000 after purchasing an additional 437 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of BP by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,533 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 621 shares during the period. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.