BP (NYSE:BP) Upgraded 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 Tuesday morning.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on BP. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of BP to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of BP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $49.90 to $41.50 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $42.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BP currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.73.

BP Stock Performance

NYSE:BP opened at $29.94 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $31.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $81.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.65. BP has a twelve month low of $29.00 and a twelve month high of $40.40.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.05. BP had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 12.91%. The company had revenue of $47.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $52.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. BP’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BP will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.41%. BP’s payout ratio is 200.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in BP in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in BP in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in BP in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO lifted its holdings in BP by 29.1% in the 2nd quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 2,034 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.