StockNews.com Upgrades BP (NYSE:BP) to Buy

BP (NYSE:BP) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on BP. UBS Group raised shares of BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Redburn Atlantic cut BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Scotiabank reduced their price target on BP from $47.00 to $42.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on BP from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of BP in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.23.

BP Stock Performance

BP opened at $30.78 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.71, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.64. BP has a fifty-two week low of $30.52 and a fifty-two week high of $40.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average of $33.53 and a 200 day moving average of $35.94.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $47.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.82 billion. BP had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 3.60%. The company’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BP will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Blueprint LLC raised its holdings in shares of BP by 2.6% during the second quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 13,200 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $477,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BP by 12.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,097 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $112,000 after buying an additional 342 shares during the period. SouthState Corp boosted its stake in shares of BP by 0.3% in the second quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 128,246 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $4,630,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in BP by 5.4% during the second quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,001 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $289,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the period. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in BP by 4.1% in the second quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,767 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $389,000 after acquiring an additional 422 shares during the period. 11.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.