Brokerages Set BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Price Target at $38.26

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have given a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and four have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $38.26.

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research set a $50.00 price objective on BP in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised BP from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Raymond James lifted their target price on BP from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price 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, DZ Bank downgraded BP from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of BP by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 11,839 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $344,000 after buying an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co lifted its position in shares of BP by 28.7% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 13,189 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $390,000 after buying an additional 2,944 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BP in the fourth quarter worth about $1,255,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of BP by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 940,786 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $27,810,000 after buying an additional 38,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Syon Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of BP by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 21,476 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $635,000 after buying an additional 6,019 shares in the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of BP opened at $33.76 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. BP has a 12 month low of $27.82 and a 12 month high of $40.40. The company has a market cap of $90.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 422.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued 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 return on equity of 10.96% and a net margin of 0.20%. Research analysts anticipate that BP will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.69%. BP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2,375.00%.

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.