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

Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $43.88.

BP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on BP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on BP from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. TD Securities boosted their price objective on BP from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on BP from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on BP from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of BP stock opened at $36.55 on Thursday. BP has a one year low of $33.52 and a one year high of $40.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.46, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by ($0.06). BP had a net margin of 4.51% and a return on equity of 13.49%. The firm had revenue of $48.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.66 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that BP will post 4.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a $0.4362 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $1.74 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.77%. BP’s payout ratio is 53.92%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. PSquared Asset Management AG purchased a new position in BP in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,315,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of BP by 145.5% during the fourth quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC now owns 656,293 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $23,233,000 after acquiring an additional 388,931 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in shares of BP by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 500,704 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $17,725,000 after acquiring an additional 65,425 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of BP by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 487,648 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $17,263,000 after acquiring an additional 59,379 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its position in shares of BP by 2.4% during the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 467,250 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $18,092,000 after acquiring an additional 11,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

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.