BP (NYSE:BP) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of BP (NYSE:BP) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on BP. Piper Sandler restated a neutral rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of BP in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Argus upgraded BP to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of BP to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. HSBC downgraded shares of BP from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of BP from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BP has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $43.73.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of BP stock opened at $31.42 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. BP has a 52 week low of $30.52 and a 52 week high of $40.84. The company has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a PE ratio of 9.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.64.

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

BP Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.48 dividend. This is a positive change from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. BP’s payout ratio is 59.56%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of BP during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in shares of BP in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of BP during the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of BP by 576.0% during the 4th quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,129 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 962 shares during the period. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its holdings in shares of BP by 85.7% in the 2nd quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 1,300 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. 11.01% of the stock is 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.