BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and four have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $38.76.

BP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on BP from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of BP from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of BP from $34.70 to $31.80 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of BP from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $42.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in BP in the third quarter worth approximately $5,089,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of BP by 860.7% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 66,464 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $2,086,000 after purchasing an additional 59,546 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC acquired a new position in shares of BP during the third quarter worth $857,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in BP by 83.3% during the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 53,360 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,577,000 after buying an additional 24,252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS increased its holdings in shares of BP by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 454,980 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $14,282,000 after acquiring an additional 23,325 shares during the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BP Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:BP opened at $31.48 on Monday. BP has a 52-week low of $27.82 and a 52-week high of $40.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The business has a fifty day moving average of $29.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.63. The stock has a market cap of $84.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.13, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.64.

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. The company had revenue of $47.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $52.05 billion. BP had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 12.91%. BP’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that BP will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.10%. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 200.00%.

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.