BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-one research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fourteen have issued a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $35.28.

BP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group cut shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of BP from $35.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $36.00 price objective (down previously from $40.00) on shares of BP in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of BP from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of BP from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $26.50 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, May 12th.

BP Trading Down 2.8%

Shares of BP stock opened at $30.38 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.36 and a 200-day moving average of $30.72. The stock has a market cap of $81.64 billion, a PE ratio of -66.04, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.54. BP has a 52-week low of $25.22 and a 52-week high of $37.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.22.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $46.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.12 billion. BP had a negative net margin of 0.62% and a positive return on equity of 9.51%. The company’s revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BP will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. BP’s dividend payout ratio is currently -413.04%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BP. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of BP by 2,250.0% in the first quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 940 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in BP during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Missouri Trust & Investment Co increased its position in BP by 400.0% during the 1st quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 1,000 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its position in BP by 178.0% during the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares during the period. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its position in BP by 580.8% during the 1st quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 2,158 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 1,841 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% 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.