Jefferies Financial Group Reiterates Buy Rating for BP (LON:BP)

Jefferies Financial Group reiterated their buy rating on shares of BP (LON:BP) in a research report report published on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a GBX 540 ($6.79) target price on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on BP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of BP in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a GBX 500 ($6.29) target price on shares of BP in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Berenberg Bank lowered their price target on BP from GBX 470 ($5.91) to GBX 440 ($5.53) and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of GBX 605 ($7.61).

BP Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of LON:BP opened at GBX 380.10 ($4.78) on Monday. BP has a 52 week low of GBX 379.70 ($4.77) and a 52 week high of GBX 562.30 ($7.07). The company’s 50 day moving average is GBX 388.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is GBX 422.77. The company has a market cap of £60.25 billion, a PE ratio of 1,151.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 79.91.

BP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.54%. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6,969.70%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BP news, insider Murray Auchincloss bought 95 shares of BP stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 394 ($4.95) per share, with a total value of £374.30 ($470.58). Insiders have bought a total of 200 shares of company stock valued at $76,760 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.