Scotiabank Issues Positive Forecast for BP (NYSE:BP) Stock Price

BP (NYSE:BP) had its price target increased by Scotiabank from $30.00 to $34.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector perform rating on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group set a $29.00 price target on shares of BP and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. TD Securities restated a “hold” rating and issued a $36.00 target price (down from $40.00) on shares of BP in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley cut BP from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $26.50 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, May 12th. UBS Group cut shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.17.

BP Trading Up 3.6%

Shares of NYSE BP opened at $32.65 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $87.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -70.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.54. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. BP has a 12-month low of $25.22 and a 12-month high of $35.83.

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

BP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.88%. BP’s payout ratio is currently -413.04%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in BP by 97.3% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 10,851 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $321,000 after purchasing an additional 5,351 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of BP by 26.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC now owns 7,550 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares during the period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its stake in BP by 427.5% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 13,167 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $389,000 after purchasing an additional 10,671 shares during the period. Cozad Asset Management Inc. grew its position in BP by 92.6% during the 4th quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,818 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,295,000 after purchasing an additional 21,064 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC raised its stake in BP by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 19,753 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $584,000 after purchasing an additional 640 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.