Meritage Portfolio Management Boosts Stake in BP p.l.c. $BP

Meritage Portfolio Management raised its holdings in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 164,318 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,171 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in BP were worth $4,918,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BP. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH acquired a new stake in shares of BP in the second quarter valued at $87,000. Acima Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BP in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of BP by 1.6% in the second quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 37,941 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,136,000 after buying an additional 592 shares in the last quarter. Ping Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BP in the second quarter valued at $449,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of BP by 1.0% in the second quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 249,305 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $7,462,000 after buying an additional 2,555 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Stock Performance

BP opened at $33.52 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.58. The stock has a market cap of $88.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 159.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.92. BP p.l.c. has a 1-year low of $25.22 and a 1-year high of $35.88.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.22. BP had a return on equity of 9.08% and a net margin of 0.29%.The firm had revenue of $46.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. BP’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BP p.l.c. will post 3.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $0.4942 dividend. This represents a $1.98 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.9%. This is a boost from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. BP’s dividend payout ratio is 942.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on BP from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Melius assumed coverage on BP in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $66.00 price objective for the company. Melius Research assumed coverage on BP in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $66.00 target price for the company. DZ Bank raised BP from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised BP from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.14.

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.