BP p.l.c. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.48 (NYSE:BP)

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 11th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a dividend of 0.48 per share by the oil and gas exploration company on Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st.

BP has increased its dividend by an average of 12.6% per year over the last three years. BP has a payout ratio of 47.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect BP to earn $3.53 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.4%.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BP traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $34.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 16,533,928 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,291,881. BP has a 12-month low of $27.82 and a 12-month high of $40.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $30.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.53, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.64.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.12). BP had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 12.91%. As a group, equities analysts predict that BP will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. DZ Bank lowered shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of BP from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of BP from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of BP from $34.70 to $31.80 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BP presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.64.

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.