Wells Fargo & Company Cuts BP (NYSE:BP) Price Target to $31.00

BP (NYSE:BP) had its price target lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $33.00 to $31.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on BP. StockNews.com upgraded shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. BNP Paribas downgraded BP from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Scotiabank cut shares of BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.48.

BP Stock Performance

NYSE BP opened at $30.34 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $30.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.94. BP has a 52-week low of $27.82 and a 52-week high of $40.40.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $47.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $52.05 billion. BP had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 1.36%. BP’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that BP will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

BP Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders 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 6.33%. BP’s dividend payout ratio is 200.00%.

Institutional Trading of BP

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Blueprint LLC lifted its position in shares of BP by 2.6% in the second quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 13,200 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $477,000 after buying an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in BP by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 4,549 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. SouthState Corp boosted its position in BP by 0.3% during the second quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 128,246 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $4,630,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BP by 3.8% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 11,459 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of BP by 3.4% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,087 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 498 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.